THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL 
PSYCHOLOGY 


(Third  and  Enlarged  Edition} 

THE  OUTLINES  OF 

Educational  Psychology 

An  Introduction  to  the  Science  of  Education 


BY 


WILLIAM  HENRY  PYLE,  Ph.D. 

Assistant  Professor  of  Educational  Psychology  in  the  University  of  Missouri 


Salttmnrr 

WARWICK  &  YORK,  Inc. 

1911 


Copyright,  1911, 

By 
WARWICK  &  YORK,  Inc. 

Copyright,  1912, 

By 
WARWICK  &  YORK,  Inc. 


CONTENTS 
CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION 

The  educational  situation,  the  aim  of  education,  the 
nature  of  children,  the  nature  of  the  educational 
process,  method,  educational  psychology,  edu- 
cation and  psychology,  education  a  process  of  ad- 
justment. Page 1 

CHAPTER  II 

BODY   AND    MIND 

The  evolution  of  the  body,  the  evolution  of  the  mind, 
evolution  and  education,  body  and  mind.  Page. .  13 

CHAPTER  III 

HEREDITY 

What  we  mean  by  heredity,  the  mechanism  of  heredity, 
the  laws  of  heredity,  mental  heredity,  special 
facts  of  heredity,  social  heredity,  educational  in- 
ferences. Page 24 

CHAPTER  IV 
INSTINCTS 

Definition  and  description,  experimental  studies,  in- 
stincts in  man,  transitoriness  and  periodicity  of 
instincts,  order  of  development,  early  specialisa- 
tion of  instincts,  classification  of  instincts.  Page  35 


2056236 


Yi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  V 

THE   INDIVIDUALISTIC   INSTINCTS 

Nature  and  number,  fear,  pedagogy  of  fear,  the  fight- 
ing instinct,  causes  of  anger,  manifestations  of 
anger,  control  and  treatment,  competition  in  the 
schoolroom.  Page 48 

CHAPTER  VI 

THE    SOCIAL    INSTINCTS 

The  gang  instinct,  chums,  gangs  and  clubs,  why  gangs 
are  formed,  high  school  fraternities,  sympathy 
and  co-operation.  Page 61 

CHAPTER  VII 

THE   ENVIRONMENTAL    INSTINCTS 

The  migration  of  lower  animals,  truancies  and  runa- 
ways, causes  of  truancies,  the  school  and  the 
migratory  instinct,  the  collecting  instinct,  its 
universality,  its  development,  pedagogy  of  the  col- 
lecting instinct.  Page 74 

CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   ADAPTIVE    INSTINCTS — PLAY 

Physiological  considerations,  definitions  and  theories, 
development  of  play  instinct,  play  and  moral 
character,  the  pedagogy  of  play,  play  of  adults. 
Page 91 


CONTENTS  Vii 

CHAPTER  IX 

THE   ADAPTIVE    INSTINCTS — IMITATION 

Description  and  definition,  psychological  explanation, 
imitation  in  lower  animals,  function  and  impor- 
tance, education  and  imitation,  school  manage- 
ment and  imitation,  contrary  suggestion,  chil- 
dren's ideals.  Page 108 

CHAPTER  X 

HABIT 

Nature  of  habit,  function  of  habit,  importance  in  edu- 
cation, the  ethics  of  habit,  laws  of  habit  forma- 
tion, repetition,  repetition  in  attention,  pleasur- 
able repetition,  habit  and  attitude.  Page 124 

CHAPTER  XI 

HABIT   AND    EDUCATION 

Function  of  the  teacher,  repetition  and  practice,  ex- 
ceptions, rules  for  habit  formation,  habits  are 
specific.  Page 146 

CHAPTER  XII 

HABIT   AND    MORAL   TRAINING 

Importance  of  the  problem,  futility  of  recent  dis- 
cussions, moral  training  and  psychology,  must  be 
based  on  definite  principles,  the  instincts  and 
moral  training,  inhibition,  repetition  and  moral 
training,  the  school  and  the  home  in  moral  train- 
ing, practical  moral  training,  the  emotions, 
actions  and  character,  objections  considered. 
Page 164 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XIII 

MEMOBY 

Meaning  of  memory,  experimental  studies,  relation 
of  memory  to  age  and  sex,  improvement  of  mem- 
ory by  practice,  conditions  affecting  retention, 
first  impression,  number  of  repetitions,  value  of 
associations,  economical  learning,  transfer  of 
memory  training,  relation  of  memory  to  intelli- 
gence, function  of  the  teacher  in  memory  work. 
Page  ..................  ......................  185 

CHAPTER  XIV 

ATTENTION 

Neurological  point  of  view,  active  and  passive  atten- 
tion, function  of  attention,  attention  and  educa- 
tion, training  the  attention.  Page  ..............  206 

CHAPTER  XV 

THINKING 

Association  of  ideas,  imagination,  thinking,  training 
in  reasoning,  meaning,  reason  and  education. 
Page  ........................................  221 

CHAPTER  XVI 

FATIGUE 

Nature  of  fatigue,  measure  of  fatigue,  the  psychologi- 
cal methods,  complicating  phenomena,  the  three 
phases  of  fatigue,  length  of  school  sessions  and 
school  periods,  the  pedagogy  of  fatigue.  Page...  239 

CHAPTER  XVII 
Tests  and  Norms.    Page  ..........................  254 

The  Appendix.    Page  .............................  269 


PREFACE. 

The  fact  that  we  have  had  no  general  text-book  in  educa- 
tional psychology  has  led  to  the  preparation  of  this  book, 
which  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  work  with  my  own  classes. 
I  have  endeavored  to  select  for  treatment  those  facts  and 
principles  of  psychology,  fairly  well  established,  that  have 
evident  and  direct  bearing  upon  the  problems  of  teaching. 
The  time  is  at  hand  when  every  step  in  educational  pro- 
cedure must  have  scientific  justification.  This  can  come 
in  the  main  from  only  one  source, — the  crucial  test  of  ex- 
perimental determination.  If  this  volume  contributes,  in 
some  small  measure,  toward  the  end  of  making  education 
more  scientific,  I  shall  feel  that  its  publication  will  be 
justified.  It  has  been  my  aim  to  be  careful  and  conserva- 
tive, to  keep  within  the  warrant  of  established  fact.  How- 
ever, I  realize  that  nearly  every  page  shows  the  need  of 
more  facts,  more  data.  Experimental  psychology  is  a  thing 
of  only  yesterday;  educational  psychology  is  a  new-born 
infant  of  today.  But  it  is  an  infant  of  great  promise.  The 
army  of  trained  investigators  that  is  attacking  the  myriad 
problems  of  the  school,  will  give  us,  even  in  a  decade,  re- 
sults of  great  importance  to  education.  But  the  work  must 
be  carefully  done. 

It  is  my  belief  that  a  text-book  should  be  a  mere  outline, 
to  be  elaborated  by  teacher  and  students.  The  questions 
and  exercises  and  the  references  will  help  toward  this 
elaboration.  The  questions,  for  the  most  part,  are  selected 

ix 


X  THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

from  those  asked  by  my  students  when  the  matter  of  this 
book  was  presented  to  them  in  class.  The  references  are 
to  such  English  sources  as  I  have  found  most  helpful. 
They  fall  into  two  classes :  (1)  parallel  systematic  treatises 
and  (2)  the  original  reports  of  experimental  work.  In 
neither  case,  however,  are  the  references  complete.  They 
are  intended  only  on  the  one  hand  to  refer  the  student  to 
other,  and  often  more  extended,  treatments  of  the  same 
subjects,  and  on  the  other,  to  give  the  beginning  student 
some  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  investigations  on  which  the 
statements  of  the  text  are  based. 

My  indebtedness,  direct  and  indirect,  is  great.  Directly, 
I  am  indebted  most  of  all,  to  Dr.  W.  L.  Bryan,  president  of 
Indiana  University,  my  first  teacher  in  psychology ;  to  Dr. 
E.  B.  Titchener,  Sage  professor  of  psychology  in  the  grad- 
uate school  of  Cornell  University,  in  whose  laboratory  I 
learned  something  of  scientific  method ;  and  to  Dr.  G.  M. 
Whipple  of  Cornell,  who  has  shown  the  possibilities  of 
applying  this  method  to  the  solution  of  school-room  prob- 
lems. 

Indirectly,  my  greatest  debt  is  to  President  G.  Stanley 
Hall  and  the  late  Professor  James.  My  thanks  are  also 
due  to  President  A.  Ross  Hill  and  Dean  W.  W.  Charters 
of  the  University  of  Missouri,  and  to  my  brother,  J.  O. 
Pyle,  of  Chicago,  who  have  read  most  of  the  manuscript 
and  given  valuable  suggestions. 

W.  H.  P. 

COLUMBIA,  Mo., 

September  1, 1911. 


THE  OUTLINES  OF 

EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

CHAPTER  I. 
INTKODUCTION. 

The  educational  situation. — The  educational  prac- 
tice of  the  past  has  not  been  based  on  science  as 
medical  practice  or  good  farming  is  now  based  on 
scientific  principles.  This,  of  course,  does  not  mean 
that  there  has  never  been  any  good  teaching.  Long 
before  there  was  a  science  of  medicine  many  good 
remedies  were  discovered  empirically,  although  little 
was  known  concerning  the  principles  of  drugs  or  the 
nature  of  their  physiological  action,  nor  was  any- 
thing definite  known  concerning  the  nature  and 
causes  of  disease.  Now,  however,  medical  practice 
has  a  scientific  basis.  Much  the  same  can  be  said  of 
farming.  For  thousands  of  years  man  has  been  till- 
ing the  soil,  and  by  the  slow  trial  and  success  method 
has  learned  many  good  practices,  but  he  has  not 
understood  the  nature  of  the  forces  with  which  he 
has  dealt.  He  has  not  known  what  caused  success 
or  failure.  The  farmer  of  today  can  have  sufficient 
scientific  facts  to  make  his  procedure  entirely  intel- 
ligent. Although  he  can  never  have  complete  control 
of  the  conditions  of  his  work,  he  can  understand  these 

Ci] 


2          THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

conditions,  and  can  foresee  the  outcome  of  given 
situations. 

The  practice  of  education  has  had  a  similar  his- 
tory. We  have  had  some  great  teachers  in  the  past, 
but  none  of  them  has  understood  much  of  the  real 
nature  of  what  he  was  doing.  If  the  great  teachers 
themselves  have  known  little  of  the  nature  of  the 
material  with  which  they  dealt  or  the  causes  of  their 
success,  much  less  could  their  followers  know.  They 
could  only  imitate,  with  next  to  no  knowledge  of  the 
principles  which  underlay  their  master's  success. 
Systems  of  education  have,  for  the  most  part,  been 
based  on  some  philosophical  or  religious  conception. 
It  is  not  correct  to  say  that  these  systems  have  all 
been  wrong;  there  has  been,  perhaps,  some  truth  in 
all  of  them,  just  as  there  has  been  a  grain  of  truth  in 
most  systems  of  philosophy.  For  example,  some  of 
Plato's  ideas  on  education  as  expressed  in  the  Re- 
public can  now  be  scientifically  justified. 

It  has  been  impossible  to  have  a  science  of  educa- 
tion for  the  very  simple  reason  that  the  data  that 
must  form  a  basis  for  the  principles  of  such  a  science 
have  not  been  at  hand.  What  facts  must  be  known 
before  we  can  have  a  science  of  education?  They 
fall  into  four  groups:  (1)  the  aim  of  education;  (2) 
the  nature  of  children;  (3)  the  essential  character- 
istics of  the  educational  process,  and  (4)  method, 
t.  e.,  the  most  economical  procedure  in  attaining  the 
first  through  the  knowledge  contributed  by  the  sec- 
ond and  third  and  by  direct  investigation  made  for 
this  sole  purpose. 

The  aim  of  education. — Society  at  any  given  time 
prescribes  the  type  of  individual  to  which  it  thinks 


INTBODUCTION  O 

the  children  of  that  generation  should  be  made  to 
conform.  Education  is  the  institution  of  society  that 
is  to  achieve  that  end,  i.  e.,  train  the  children  for 
action  in  accordance  with  the  ideals  of  the  times. 
Just  what  the  type  is,  depends  on  the  ideals  of  the 
age,  and  could  be  determined  for  any  given  time  and 
people  by  studying  their  social  ideals.  The  ideal 
individual  leads  such  a  life  as  conduces  to  the  general 
well-being  of  society.  At  the  present  time  in  our  own 
country  there  is  pretty  general  agreement  as  to  what 
this  means.  The  adult  male  must  support  himself 
and  family,  and  in  his  relations  with  his  fellow  men 
must  so  conduct  himself  as  to  lead  to  mutual  com- 
fort and  happiness.  It  might  seem  that  if  this  view 
of  the  aim  and  purpose  of  education  is  true,  progress 
would  be  impossible.  But  such  is  not  the  case.  The 
people  of  one  generation  can  sometimes  see  that  in 
some  respect  or  other  their  relations  and  adjust- 
ments could  be  improved.  It  is  then  possible  for 
them  to  bring  up  their  children  in  such  a  way  that 
the  children,  when  grown,  will  come  nearer  to  the 
better  way  of  living.  Education,  then,  is  to  achieve 
social  efficiency;  it  is  the  conscious  effort  of  society 
to  give  the  young  such  information  and  such  training 
as  will  enable  them  to  produce  ever  a  more  perfect 
social  life.  And  doubtless  the  ideal  of  social  organi- 
sation will  be  that  condition  that  will  allow  and  make 
possible  for  all  the  greatest  possible  individual  devel- 
opment of  capacity  to  achieve  and  enjoy.  Society 
exists  for  the  individual  and  the  individual  exists  for 
society,  while  education  is  the  process  of  preparing 
the  individual  for  his  life  in  society  and  of  making  a 
better  society.  Every  person  who  is  to  be  a  teacher 


4          THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL.   PSYCHOLOGY 

should  be  a  student  of  the  science  of  sociology  in 
order  that  he  may  understand  society  and  its  insti- 
tutions, their  origin,  their  evolution  and  their  func- 
tion. A  teacher  without  such  knowledge  can  only 
grope  blindly  after  an  unknown  object,  but  with  such 
knowledge  he  can  work  consciously  to  achieve  the 
highest  social  ideals. 

The  nature  of  children. — A  child  is  a  psychophys- 
ical  being,  that  is,  a  being  that  is  both  mind  and  body. 
There  are,  therefore,  two  sciences  that  contribute  the 
second  group  of  facts  for  a  science  of  education — 
biology  and  psychology.  Biology  tells  us  about  the 
body,  its  organs  and  their  functions,  its  growth  and 
development  and  its  evolution  from  lower  animal 
forms.  Psychology  tells  us  about  mind,  its  elements 
and  the  laws  of  their  combination  and  organisation. 
Psychology  tells  us  also  about  the  development  of 
individual  minds  and  of  the  evolution  of  mind  in  the 
animal  kingdom.  That  this  second  group  of  facts  is 
necessary  for  a  science  of  education  is  evident,  for 
education  is  blind  unless  the  teacher  knows  the  laws 
of  bodily  and  mental  growth  and  function.  The 
teacher  must  know  something  of  nerves  and  muscles 
and  their  conditions  of  growth  and  activity ;  he  must 
know  something  of  the  physical  organs  and  the  con- 
ditions of  their  healthy  functioning.  He  must  know 
something  of  sense  organs  and  how  to  test  their  effi- 
ciency. He  must  know  something  of  instincts,  of 
habits,  of  perception,  memory,  imagination,  feeling, 
association  and  attention.  Accurate  knowledge  on 
these  subjects  is  absolutely  necessary  for  intelligent 
procedure  in  teaching. 


INTRODUCTION  0 

The  nature  of  the  educational   process.  —  The 

teacher  must  also  know  the  exact  nature  of  the  edu- 
cational process.  What  is  taking  place  in  the  child 
when  he  is  being  educated?  What  is  the  child  doing 
while  he  is  being  educated?  What  is  possible  and 
what  is  impossible?  What  is  the  function  of  the 
teacher?  These  and  many  more  similar  questions 
demand  a  scientific  answer.  Both  sociology  and  psy- 
chology answer  this  question  and  both  answer  it  in 
the  same  way,  namely,  in  terms  of  adjustment. 
Sociology  says  education  is  the  process  by  which 
young  individuals  are  trained  to  participate  in  social 
life.  From  the  point  of  view  of  psychology,  educa- 
tion is  essentially  a  process  of  habit-formation.  The 
new  individual  is  to  be  acquainted  with  this  material 
and  social  world  and  trained  in  the  appropriate 
responses  to  be  made  in  all  the  varied  situations  of 
life.  There  are,  of  course,  two  aspects  of  education : 
(1)  getting  information  about  the  world  and  (2)  mak- 
ing the  right  response  in  the  light  of  this  information. 
But  the  second  factor  is  the  ultimate  end,  for  we  need 
the  information  only  to  guide  action.  If  we  did  not 
have  to  move,  to  respond,  we  should  have  no  need  of 
sense  organs,  no  need  of  mind.  It  has  only  been  the 
growing  complexity  of  movement,  response,  that  has 
necessitated  the  development  of  sense  organs  through 
which  we  learn  of  the  world.  In  this  process  of  ad- 
justment the  function  of  the  teacher  is  limited  and 
his  possibilities  circumscribed.  The  utmost  that  he 
can  do  is  to  manipulate  the  environment  of  the  child. 
Both  biology  and  psychology  tell  us  that  the  child 
comes  to  us  with  a  body  and  mind  inherited  from  his 
ancestors,  with  many  definite  responses  already  pro- 


6          THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

vided  for  in  the  neuro-muscular  system.  Heredity, 
then,  sets  the  first  limitation;  we  can  work  only 
within  the  limits  set  by  heredity.  And  in  a  certain 
sense  the  child  is  unapproachable,  unassailable,  he 
can  not  be  touched,  he  can  not  be  changed ;  he  is  au- 
tonomous, he  assimilates,  he  grows.  Within  certain 
limits  we  can  change  his  environment.  We  can  have 
something  to  do  with  the  outcome  of  the  child's 
actions  in  the  way  of  pleasure  and  pain,  we  can  make 
conditions  favorable  for  the  activity  of  one  instinct 
or  another,  but  more  than  this  we  can  not  do,  and  it 
is  well  that  we  know  it.  Education,  then,  is  a  process 
of  adjustment  that  teachers  and  parents  can  par- 
tially guide  and  control  by  virtue  of  their  power  to 
change  and  manipulate  the  child's  environment. 

Method. — Sociology  gives  us  the  aim  of  education, 
biology  and  psychology  give  us  the  nature  of  the 
child,  psychology  explains  the  essential  nature  of  the 
educational  process.  Psychology  also  gives  us  a 
scientific  basis  for  method.  Of  course,  method  can 
sometimes  be  inferred  from  the  nature  of  the  child, 
so  that  the  second  group  of  facts,  in  the  largest  sense, 
would  include  the  fourth,  but  the  fourth  group  of 
facts  deserves  independent  statement  and  treatment 
because  every  detail  of  method  must  have  separate 
and  indpendent  determination  by  experimental  pro- 
cedure, although  it  is  true  that  this  procedure  is 
always  dependent  upon  the  nature  of  mind.  The  best 
methods  of  teaching  children  to  read,  to  spell,  to 
write,  to  draw,  to  think,  in  a  word  to  do  all  the  vari- 
ous things  that  we  want  to  learn  to  do,  must  be  deter- 
mined experimentally,  for  in  very  few  cases  can  they 
be  entirely  determined  by  a  priori  considerations. 


INTRODUCTION  / 

So  complex  are  mind  and  its  operations  that  the  na- 
ture of  every  aspect  of  its  operation  must  have  inde- 
pendent determination. 

Educational  psychology.  —  The  term  educational 
psychology  is  to  some  extent  a  misnomer,  for  there  is 
really  only  one  kind  of  psychology,  the  science  which 
undertakes  to  work  out  the  structure,  function  and 
genesis  of  mind.  Educational  psychology,  as  now 
generally  understood,  treats  of  the  application  of  the 
principles  of  psychology  to  education.  It  is,  indeed, 
more  than  a  chapter  in  applied  psychology,  and  per- 
haps deserves  to  rank  as  a  distinct  subdivision  of 
psychology.  Psychology  has  for  its  problem  the  de- 
scription of  mind  in  general;  this  description  it 
works  out  in  its  own  way  and  in  its  own  time  as  its 
purely  scientific  interests  demand.  Educational  psy- 
chology takes  over  for  its  province  that  aspect  of 
general  psychology  that  has  most  immediate  connec- 
tion with  education.  The  problems  of  the  general 
psychologists  arise  out  of  the  needs  of  the  science 
as  a  whole ;  the  problems  of  the  educational  psychol- 
ogist arise  out  of  the  needs  of  education.  The  meth- 
ods and  procedure  of  the  latter  are,  in  general,  the 
same  as  those  of  the  former.  Educational  psychol- 
ogy, then,  attacks  a  part  of  the  problem  of  general 
psychology,  and  the  only  excuse  for  its  existence  as 
a  separate  subdivision  is  that  education  can  not 
afford  to  wait  upon  the  development  of  psychology 
as  a  whole,  for  psychology  as  such  is  not  concerned 
with  problems  of  education.  However,  since  educa- 
tional psychology  has  taken  over  a  specific  part  of 
general  psychology,  its  problems  have  taken  on  a 
specific  character  and  its  laboratory  has  its  special 


8          THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

equipment.  The  educational  psychologist  must  have 
the  same  training  as  the  general  psychologist,  and, 
in  addition,  be  familiar  with  the  problems  and  condi- 
tions of  the  school  room,  for  he  is  to  be  concerned 
with  just  those  aspects  of  psychology  that  have 
closest  connection  with  these  problems  and  con- 
ditions. 

Education  and  psychology. — By  reference  to  our 
discussion  of  the  four  problems  of  education,  it  will 
be  seen  how  much  education  must  get  from  psychol- 
ogy, making  educational  psychology  almost  the 
whole  of  the  science  of  education.  The  knowledge 
of  the  nature  of  the  child  must  come  in  part  from 
psychology,  while  the  nature  of  the  educational 
process  and  method  must  come  almost  wholly  from 
psychology,  and  only  in  small  part  from  biology.  A 
detailed  statement  of  the  divisions  of  these  problems 
will  show  the  topics  that  are  to  be  treated  in  this 
book.  Our  discussion  of  the  nature  of  the  child  must 
include  a  statement  of  the  facts  of  mental  evolution 
and  mental  heredity,  the  order  and  laws  of  mental 
development,  particularly  the  development  of  the  in- 
stincts and  all  the  various  mental  structures  and  func- 
tions,— feeling,  perception,  imagination,  attention, 
memory,  association,  thought  and  action,  especially 
of  habits  and  the  laws  of  their  formation.  The  na- 
ture of  the  educational  process  will  receive  no  fur- 
ther treatment  than  is  given  in  the  following  para- 
graph, but  many  of  the  other  topics  discussed  either 
directly  or  indirectly  throw  light  on  this  question 
also.  The  scientific  basis  of  method  lies  partly  in  the 
facts  of  mental  structure,  function  and  development, 
from  which  they  are  inferred  or  deduced,  and  partly 


INTRODUCTION 


9 


in  the  results  of  special  investigations,  which  have 
for  their  sole  purpose  the  experimental  determina- 
tion of  economic  methods  of  learning.  We  must  also 
treat  of  method,  not  only  from  the  point  of  view  of 
general  development,  but  also  taking  into  considera- 
tion individual  variation  and  abnormal  types. 

Education  a  process  of  adjustment. — Both  psychol- 
ogy and  biology,  as  well  as  sociology,  consider  edu- 
cation to  be  a  process  of  adjustment.  A  considera- 
tion of  the  life  of  lower  animals  will  make  the  mean- 
ing clear.  Many,  perhaps  most,  of  the  lower  animals 
need  no  training;  they  come  into  existence  with 
proper  adjustments  for  life  already  provided  for  in 
the  neuro-muscular  system.  Most  of  them  have  no  u 
infancy ;  from  the  first  their  life  and  life-adjustments  r 
are  perfect  and  complete.  Such  animals  do  not  have 
to  learn,  and,  in  fact,  profit  little  by  experience.  But 
in  higher  animals,  especially  man,  the  young  are  born 
more  or  less  helpless  and  with  their  responses  more 
or  less  imperfectly  adjusted;  they  have  a  period  of 
infancy,  during  which  they  acquire  the  proper  ad- 
justments to  the  environment;  in  other  words,  they 
have  a  period  of  plasticity,  during  which  they  acquire 
knowledge  of  their  environment  and  training  in  the 
proper  responses  to  make  to  it.  The  long  infancy  in 
man  is  one  of  the  chief  factors  that  give  him  his  con- 
spicuous advantage  over  the  lower  animals.  Sockd- 
ogy  tells  us  that  infancy,  by  making  necessary  the 
development  of  the  family,  has  made  our  civilisation 
possible.  From  the  point  of  view  of  genetic  psychol- 
ogy, infancy  is  no  less  important,  for  it  serves  as  a 
period  for  training  in  adjustment.  The  only  limita- 
tion to  this  training  is  that  set  by  heredity,  i.  e.,  by 


10       THE   OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

inherited  structure  and  the  instincts.  Within  these 
limits  a  wide  variation  of  adjustment  is  possible. 
Almost  any  response  can  be  formed  for  any  situa- 
tion. Without  the  period  of  infancy,  adjustment  to 
our  complex  modern  life  would  be  impossible.  But 
with  this  period  the  only  limit  to  social  progress  is, 
as  we  have  said,  that  fixed  by  heredity.  Life  itself 
is  adjustment,  and  education  is  the  perfecting  of 
adjustments  during  the  early  years  of  life.  It 
is  therefore  a  process  of  training  in  adjustment 
and  of  perfecting  and  fixing  the  adjustments.  It 
has,  as  already  pointed  out,  two  aspects:  (1) 
impression  and  (2)  expression.  Training  con- 
sists in  receiving  impressions  and  learning  and 
perfecting  expressions.  Knowledge  and  habit  are, 
therefore,  the  two  poles  of  education.  From  this 
point  of  view  parents  and  teachers  become  guides  for 
the  child,  and  should  take  him  by  the  hand  and  lead 
him  through  all  the  varied  natural  and  social  envi- 
ronment, and,  by  controlling  and  manipulating  this 
environment,  guide  and  determine  the  responses  and 
adjustments  formed  by  the  child.  But,  as  pointed 
out  already,  this  is  the  utmost  that  can  be  done. 
What  the  child  becomes  is  the  resultant  of  two 
forces,  the  child  and  the  world.  The  teacher  can  to 
some  extent  determine  what  this  world  shall  be,  but 
this  is  all. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOB  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  Is  it  true  that  the  people  of  any  community  are  agreed  ns 
to  the  qualities  or  attributes  of  an  ideal  citizen?    Are  they  agreed 
as  to  the  studies  that  should  be  pursued  in  school? 

2.  Make  out  a  list  of  the  twenty  characteristics  you  consider 
most  desirable  in  an  American  citizen.     Arrange  them  in  the  order 
of  their  importance.    Name  five  characteristics  on  which  there  is 


INTRODUCTION  11 

not  general  agreement.  Would  the  savage  American  Indian  have 
agreed  to  your  list  of  twenty  characteristics?  Will  your  list  be 
acceptable  5000  years  from  now?  What  changes,  in  this  respect, 
have  you  undergone  in  your  own  lifetime? 

3.  Does  adjustment  to  surroundings  mean  submitting  to  these 
surroundings  without  modifying  them? 

4.  Is  there  any  conflict  between  the  interests  of  the  individual 
and  those  of  society? 

5.  Is  society  itself  merely  an  institution  existing  for  the  good 
it  may  do  for  the  individual? 

6.  Does  psychology  have  anything  to  say  about  the  character- 
istics of  the  ideal  citizen?    About  the  aim  of  education?    Are  there 
any  facts  that  tell  us  the  kind  of  individual  that  we  ought  to  be? 
Why,   for  example,   do  you  think   people   should  be   honest  and 
truthful? 

7.  Can  the  development  of  the  individual  be  made  the  aim  of 
education? 

8.  Should  a  child's  training  in  adjustment  to  his  environment 
be  equal  for  all  parts  of  this  environment?    What  rule  can  you 
give  that  will  cover  this  matter? 

9.  If  our  ancestors  throughout  all  the  past  have  got  along  with- 
out a  science  of  education,  why  can  we  not  still  get  along  without 
it?    Why  will  not  the  methods  of  rearing  children  of  10,000  years 
ago  be  adequate  at  the  present  time? 

10.  Mention  some  defect  in  educational  procedure  due  to  ig- 
norance.    Point  out  some  defects  in  your  own  home  or  school  train- 
ing due  to  ignorance  of  parents  or  teachers. 

11.  Name  some  pioneers  in  the  field  of  educational  psychology. 

12.  Name  some  specific  points  on  which  information  would  en- 
able you  to  make  a  better  teacher  or  parent. 

13.  Wrhat  is  the  significance  of  the  terms  "willing"  and  "able" 
in  Miinsterberg's  definition  of  the  aim  of  education? 

14.  If  a  person  does  not  do  as  well  as  he  knows,  what  defect  In 
his  training  does  this  indicate? 

15.  Mention  some  principles  of  education  held  by  Plato  that  can 
now  be  scientifically  justified. 

REFERENCES. 

On  the  educational  situation,  G.  Stanley  Hall,  Educational  Prob- 
lems, 1911,  the  introduction. 

For  discussions  of  the  aim  and  nature  of  education : 

H.  Miinsterberg,  Psychology  and  the  Teacher,  1909,  Ch.  ix.  (From 
the  point  of  view  of  the  philosopher.) 

M.  V.  O'Shea,  Education  as  Adjustment,  Chs.  iv  and  v. 

W.  C.  Bagley,  The  Educative  Process,  1905,  Pt.  1. 

N.  M.  Butler,  The  Meaning  of  Education,  Ch.  1. 

F.  E.  Bolton,  Principles  of  Education,  1910,  Ch.  I. 

J.  W.  Jenks,  Citizenship  and  the  Schools,  1906.  (From  the  point 
of  view  of  the  political  economist.) 


12       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

H.  H.  Donaldson,  The  Growth  of  the  Brain,  1895,  Chs.  xvili  and 
xix.  (From  the  point  of  view  of  the  physiologist.) 

C.  A.  Ellwood,  Sociology  and  Modern  Social  Problems,  1910,  Ch. 
xv.  (From  the  point  of  view  of  the  sociologist.) 

C.  W.  Eliot,  Education  for  Efficiency,  1909,  Ch.  i,  Education  for 
Efficiency ;  Ch.  ii,  The  New  Definition  of  the  Cultivated  Man. 

The  Significance  of  Infancy: 

John  Fiske,  Excursions  of  an  Evolutionist,  Ch.  xii,  or  in  The  Des- 
tiny of  Man,  Ch.  iv  and  v,  or  in  Outlines  of  Cosmic  Philosophy, 
Vol.  ii,  344. 

A.  F.  Chamberlain,  The  Child,  1900,  Ch.  i. 

On  the  relation  of  Psychology  to  Education : 

E.  L.  Thorndike,  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  1910,  Vol.  1, 
p.  5. 

E.  A.  Kirkpatrick,  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  1910,  Vol. 
i,  p.  76. 

G.  Stanley  Hall,  Adolescence,  1904,  the  preface ;  also  Vol.  ii,  pp. 
496-497. 

H.  MUnsterberg,  Psychology  and  the  Teacher,  1909,  Chs.  xi  and 
xii. 

John  Dewey,  Psychological  Revieu\  1900,  Vol.  vii,  105. 

William  James,  Talks  to  Teachers,  1899,  Ch.  L 


CHAPTER  II. 
BODY  AND  MIND. 

The  background  of  psychology  is  biology,  and 
although  our  interest  here  is  strictly  psychological, 
certain  biological  presuppositions  and  considera- 
tions, as  well  as  certain  psychophysical  relations, 
are  necessary  to  make  our  treatment  of  mental  devel- 
opment fully  intelligible. 

The  evolution  of  the  body. — * '  The  doctrine  of  evo- 
lution merely  states  that  the  animal  world  as  it  exists 
is  naturally  developed  out  of  the  animal  world  as  it 
existed  yesterday. "  It  is  only  a  statement  of  the  fact 
that  the  temporal  relations  of  phenomena  are  causal ; 
the  events  of  today  grew  out  of  the  events  of  yester- 
day, those  of  yesterday  out  of  those  of  the  day  be- 
fore, and  so  on  back.  The  animals  of  today  are  the 
natural  descendants  of  the  animals  of  the  past,  the 
plants  of  today  of  the  plants  of  the  past ;  in  fact,  the 
inorganic,  as  well  as  the  organic,  world  is  believed  to 
proceed  causally  from  one  phenomenon  to  another. 
Gravitation  and  evolution  are  twin  conceptions  that 
bring  order  out  of  chaos,  put  meaning  into  otherwise 
meaningless  facts.  The  law  of  gravity  merely  states 
the  fact  of  the  orderly  arrangement  and  relation  of 
things  in  space,  and  the  law  of  evolution  states  the 
fact  of  the  orderly  arrangement  of  phenomena  in 
time.  They  might  very  well  be  called  the  laws  of  the 
orderly  arrangement  of  phenomena  in  time  and 

[13] 


14       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

space.  We  must,  of  course,  bear  in  mind  that  a  law 
for  natural  science  is  no  more  than  a  shorthand  state- 
ment of  the  relationships  and  uniformities  that  exist 
in  a  body  of  facts. 

The  old  view  of  the  world  was  static.  Events  were 
looked  upon  as  more  or  less  independent  and  the  re- 
sult of  chance.  Few  men  even  dreamed  of  the  great, 
underlying,  interpenetrating  relationship  existing 
among  all  things.  History  was  largely  the  chron- 
icling of  unrelated  events;  science,  a  catalogue  of 
unrelated  facts.  Species  of  animals  and  plants  were 
supposed  to  have  originated  separately  and  inde- 
pendently, each  the  result  of  a  special  creation.  The 
actions  of  man  were  supposed  to  be  the  result  of  his 
own  capricious  choice,  uncaused.  In  contrast  with 
this  view  of  the  world,  the  present  view  may  be  called 
dynamic.  We  look  upon  all  things  as  in  flux,  yester- 
day flowing  into  today  and  today  flowing  into  tomor- 
row. Nothing  is  uncaused,  order  pervades  all  things. 
A  complete  understanding  of  the  conditions  of  one 
situation  is  the  full  explanation  of  the  next  situation. 
This  view  now  pervades  all  thought  in  science,  phil- 
osophy, literature  and  history.  In  fact,  the  dynamic 
view  is  a  presupposition  of  all  science.  The  mind  of 
the  scientist  thinks  in  terms  of  evolution.  To  illus- 
trate: the  historian  of  today  no  longer  hunts  for 
facts  merely,  but  for  underlying  movements  and 
tendencies  on  which  the  events  float  as  leaves  upon 
a  river.  The  naturalist  of  today  sees  in  species  only 
the  resultant  of  the  interplay  of  environmental 
forces,  acting  upon  the  species  of  the  past.  We  have 
called  the  static  view  old  and  the  dynamic  view  mod- 
ern; but  it  must  be  said  that  the  dynamic  view  was 


BODY   AND   MIND  15 

known  and  held  by  many  ancient  Greek  philosophers. 
It  did  not,  however,  enter  into  the  general  thought 
of  mankind  till  modern  times.  Darwin's  Origin  of 
Species  was  published  in  1859,  and  this  date  may  be 
considered  to  mark  the  beginning  of  a  movement 
which  has  revolutionised  modern  thought.  It  is  not 
our  purpose  here  to  enter  into  the  proofs  of  evolu- 
tion— for  this  the  reader  must  go  to  biology — but 
only  to  state  the  modern  view  in  order  to  point  out 
its  educational  significance. 

The  evolution  of  the  mind. — The  evolution  of  the 
mind  is,  in  a  sense,  a  correlate  of  the  evolution  of  the 
body.  The  brain  and  nervous  system  have  developed 
along  with  the  complexity  of  body  structure.  There 
can  no  longer  be  any  doubt  that  mind  has  developed 
from  great  simplicity  among  lower  forms  of  animals 
to  the  more  complex  mental  activity  of  the  higher 
animals  and  man.  In  the  animal  kingdom  as  it  now 
exists  we  find  mind  in  all  its  various  stages  of  devel- 
opment. And  if  we  study  the  mind  of  any  single 
human  individual  we  find  it  at  first  relatively  simple, 
and  acquiring  day  by  day  new  structures  and  func- 
tions quite  analogous  to  the  development  of  the  body. 
To  any  one  who  makes  such  a  study  there  can  be  no 
question  of  the  development  of  the  individual  mind, 
for  it  takes  place  before  our  very  eyes.  And  every- 
thing that  we  know  about  mental  life  points  to  the 
evolution  of  mind  in  general.  And  just  as  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  body  is  a  presupposition  of  the  biologist, 
so  the  evolution  of  mind  is  a  presupposition  of  the 
psychologist. 

Evolution  and  education. — It  is  very  important 
that  teachers  have  the  evolutionary  point  of  view,—- 


16       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

that  they  see  in  the  child  the  product,  the  outcome  of 
the  past.  They  must  know  that  the  race  has  been 
hammered  out  in  the  forge  of  nature,  that  the  child 
bears  in  its  every  feature  the  imprint  of  the  past. 
The  teacher  must  know  that  the  same  forces  and 
conditions  of  the  environment  that  have  brought 
about  the  development  of  the  race  still  act  upon  the 
child.  If  these  forces  and  conditions  have  brought 
us  up  out  of  savagery,  they  must  at  least  be  the  start- 
ing point  for  modern  education,  for  our  bodies  and 
minds  presuppose  these  conditions. 

The  doctrine  of  evolution  must  enter  into  the  gen- 
eral philosophy  of  the  teacher  and  be  a  part  of  his 
mental  equipment.  In  addition  to  this  general  effect 
of  the  doctrine,  we  are  indebted  to  it  for  several  spe- 
cific aspects  of  modern  education  either  for  their  ori- 
gin or  justification.  (1)  Sequence  of  development  in 
the  life  of  the  child,  which  makes  education  possible, 
is  a  part  of  the  conception  of  evolution.  This  is  the 
notion  of  recapitulation,  which  is  a  biological  fact, 
and,  in  a  broad  sense,  a  psychological  fact.  Every 
stage  of  development  is  conditioned  by  the  previous 
stage  and  the  environing  forces.  This  is  due  to  the 
accumulated  experience  of  organic  forms,  and  doubt- 
less is  as  true  of  mind  as  of  body.  Therefore,  the 
necessity  of  orderly  procedure  in  education  has  its 
explanation  and  justification  in  evolution.  (2)  Ac- 
tivity in  education,  which  lies  back  of  manual  train- 
ing and  gymnastics,  has  its  full  explanation  in  evo- 
lution. In  the  past  it  was  the  response  of  the  indi- 
vidual to  the  pressure  of  the  environment  that 
brought  about  progress,  and  a  priori  we  should 
expect  such  response  still  to  be  a  condition  of  prog- 


BODY  AND   MIND  17 

ress  and  development.  The  facts  seem  to  show  that 
this  is  true.  Evolution  gives  us  an  interpretation  of 
this  fact.  (3)  The  modern  nature-study  movement 
has  its  justification  in  the  doctrine  of  evolution.  The 
movement  is  merely  a  recognition  of  the  fact  that  we 
can  not  neglect  now  the  natural  and  physical  condi- 
tions that  have  made  possible  the  development  of  the 
race.  Man  has  always  had  the  closest  relations  to  his 
natural  environment,  and  it  would  be  strange  indeed 
if  he  could  now  afford  to  neglect  it.  (4)  Moral  train- 
ing has  no  meaning  except  when  considered  in  the 
light  of  the  evolution  of  ethical  and  social  ideals. 
But  there  is  no  use  to  specify  details,  for  every  phase 
of  education  takes  on  a  new  aspect,  acquires  new 
meaning  and  significance,  when  considered  in  the 
light  of  evolution. 

Body  and  mind. — It  is  already  obvious  from  our 
discussion  that  mind  and  body  are  very  closely  re- 
lated. It  will  be  well,  however,  to  notice  in  some 
detail  certain  aspects  and  consequences  of  this  rela- 
tionship. (1)  First  one  should  notice  the  mere  fact 
of  relationship.  We  know  nothing  about  mind  except 
in  its  relation  to  bodies.  The  exact  nature  of  the 
connection  between  them  we  do  not  know — we  may 
never  know — but  we  may  sometime  be  able  to  give  a 
pretty  good  description  of  it.  We  know  now  that 
every  variation  and  fluctuation  of  mind  has  its  corre- 
sponding variation  and  fluctuation  in  the  body.  It 
does  not  seem  just  correct  to  say  that  either  ia  the 
cause  of  the  other, — that  the  mental  change  causes 
the  physical  change,  or  that  the  physical  causes  the 
mental ;  so  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  we 
say  merely  that  the  two  sets  of  phenomena  go  on 


18       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

together  and  are  inseparably  connected.  (2)  The 
intimate  relation  of  the  mind  is  with  the  changes  in 
the  brain  and  nervous  system.  There  seems  to  be  a 
complete  parallel  between  intelligence  and  brain  de- 
velopment throughout  the  animal  kingdom ;  the  more 
complex  the  brain-structure,  the  higher  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  animal.  Not  only,  then,  is  mind  related 
to  body,  but  it  is  more  especially  and  intimately  con- 
nected with  nervous  activity.  (3)  It  is  possible  to 
consider  the  body  of  an  animal  as  a  mechanism,  a 
mechanical  structure  greatly  differentiated,  with 
parts  especially  sensitive  to  certain  types  of  impres- 
sions. These  sensitive  structures  are  all  connected 
with  muscular  structures,  and  impressions  on  the 
former  bring  about  responses  in  the  latter.  This 
may  all  be  considered  as  a  mechanical  process,  but 
while  certain  parts  of  this  process  are  going  on, 
namely,  the  action  in  the  brain  cells,  set  up  directly 
or  indirectly  by  the  impressions  on  the  sense  organs, 
there  is  consciousness.  "We  need  not  concern  our- 
selves in  this  book  with  the  metaphysical  question 
whether  consciousness  is  a  causal  element  in  the 
physical  series.  This  makes  no  difference  to  educa- 
tion. What  the  teacher  ought  to  know  is  that  the 
body  may  be  considered  purely  as  a  mechanism,  but 
that  the  development  of  the  mind  is  invariably  asso- 
ciated with  the  development  of  the  mechanical 
processes,  and  that  whatever  the  ultimate  nature  of 
the  relationship  may  be,  it  is  surely  a  most  intimate 
one.  (4)  The  mind,  as  we  saw,  is  dependent  upon 
brain  structure  and  function;  intimately  associated 
with  brain  activity  is  muscle  activity.  We  have,  then, 
mind,  brain,  muscle,  the  great  psychophysical  trinity, 


BODY   AND   MIND  19 

the  three-in-one,  existing  in  the  most  intimate  rela- 
tionship, mutually  depending,  directly  or  indirectly, 
the  one  upon  the  others,  each  having  no  meaning 
without  the  others.  (5)  It  seems  that  in  the  past  mus- 
cular activity  has  made  the  development  of  our  brain 
necessary,  and  it  is  a  reasonable  assumption  that 
muscular  development  still  has  an  intimate  connec- 
tion with  brain  development  and  therefore  with  men- 
tal development.  (6)  From  the  point  of  view  of  the 
body  it  is  the  muscles  and  nerves  that  are  trained 
and  educated,  and  the  training  consists  in  the  perfec- 
tion of  muscular  movement  as  related  to  nervous 
stimulus.  (7)  Another  thing  to  be  noticed  is  the  com- 
plete dependence  of  mind,  at  least  in  man,  upon  sense 
organs.  These  organs  are  specialised  nerve-endings, 
each  type  capable  of  receiving  a  certain  sort  of  phys- 
ical impression.  They  are  the  means  through  which 
the  environment  brings  about  brain  changes, — the 
necessary  accompaniment  of  mind.  This  fact  makes 
(8)  the  hygiene  of  the  sense  organs  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  the  teacher.  A  child  without  any  sense 
organs  would  not  have  enough  mind  to  quarrel  about. 
And  a  child's  mental  life  is  incomplete  if  any  sense- 
organ  is  defective  or  abnormal.  It  is  therefore  essen- 
tial that  the  teacher  know  the  sensory  equipment  of 
the  children  under  his  charge,  and  that  school 
authorities  have  accurate  tests  made  of  the  sense 
organs  of  the  pupils  and  have  medical  attention  and 
help  given  when  necessary.  It  is  not  only  useless  to 
proceed,  as  teachers,  in  ignorance  of  these  facts,  but 
it  is  criminal,  for  every  child  has  the  right  to  demand 
of  society  that  all  possible  be  done  for  his  individual 
development.  (9)  We  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact 


20       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

that  muscular  activity  is  not  only  the  condition  of 
mental  development,  but  the  end  as  well.  There 
seems  little  reason,  ultimately,  why  we  should  know 
except  that  we  may  do.  Knowledge  is  not  itself  an 
end,  but  only  a  means,  only  one  step  in  the  complete 
process  of  education.  Education  has  suffered  greatly 
in  the  past  because  of  ignorance  or  forgetfulness  of 
this  fact.  Whenever  a  teacher  forgets  that  action, 
adjustment,  is  the  end  of  training,  then  education 
begins  to  be  formal  and  severs  its  relation  to  reality 
and  life.  It  has  too  often  been  true  that  the  work 
of  the  school  room  was  artificial  and  had  little  rela- 
tion to  the  life  of  the  time,  when,  in  fact,  it  ought 
merely  to  be  an  aspect,  an  expression,  of  the  life  of 
the  time,  as  the  outgrowth  of  that  of  the  past.  (10) 
Under  this  view,  manual  training  and  industrial  edu- 
cation take  first  rank  in  the  curriculum  and  become 
the  cornerstone  of  the  educational  structure.  (11) 
The  sharp  distinction  and  separation  of  mind  and 
body  in  the  past  has  been  a  great  error.  There  have 
been  people  who  thought  that  the  mind  had  little  use 
for  the  body,  and  who  have  humiliated  and  degraded 
the  body.  We  now  see  that  this  is  a  great  mistake, 
for  in  order  to  look  properly  after  the  development 
of  the  mind  we  must  look  most  carefully  after  the 
bodily  conditions. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOE  FUBTHEB,  STUDY. 

1.  In  what  sense  Is  the  doctrine  of  evolution  new  if  many  great 
thinkers  from  the  time  of  Thales  have  held  it  in  some  form?    What 
led  to  the  general  acceptance  of  the  doctrine  in  the  latter  part  of 
last  century? 

2.  Does  the  child  of  today,  on  account  of  evolution  and  heredity, 
have  greater  capacity  to  lenrn  than  was  possessed  by  children  a 
hundred  years  ago?   than  the  children  of  twenty  thousand  years 
ago? 


BODY   AND   MIND  21 


3.  Is  man  still  undergoing  evolution?    Will  he  probably  acquire 
a  new  sense  that  he  does  not  now  possess? 

4.  Outline  the  evidence  on  which  the  doctrine  of  evolution  la 
based. 

5.  Is  there  any  evidence  at  all  that  stands  in  the  way  of  accept- 
ing the  doctrine? 

6.  Why  should  we  distinguish  between  evolution  and  theories 
of  evolution? 

7.  Explain  the  following  terms:    Darwinism,  natural  selection, 
survival  of  the  fittest,  Weismannism,  Lamarckianism,  spontaneous 
variation,  the  DeVries  mutation  theory. 

8.  To  what  extent  does  the  mind  of  an  individual  pass  through 
stages  of  mental  development  analogous  to  the  minds  of  lower 
animals? 

9.  Is  the  snail  a  mere  mechanism  or  does  consciousness  accom- 
pany its  muscular  activity? 

10.  Is  it  true  that  we  have  as  much  right  to  use  the  term  'cause' 
to  designate  the  relation  of  mind  to  body  as  we  have  for  using  it  to 
designate  the  relation  between  two  physical  phenomena? 

11.  What  is  meant  by  'free  will'?  determinism?     From  what 
point  of  view  can  we  say  that  we  do  as  we  please?    From  what 
point  of  view  can  we  say  that  our  acts  are  all  determined? 

12.  Is  it  true  that  strong  minds  are  found  in  weak  bodies?    If 
you  know  of  such  a  case,  can  you  explain  it?    Look  up  the  biog- 
raphies of  a  dozen  great  men  to  see  what  you  can  learn  about  their 
early  life. 

13.  How  can  you  account  for  rather  mature  minds  in  Immature 
bodies?  and  how  explain  immature,  undeveloped  minds  in  mature 
bodies? 

14.  What  important  bearing  on  education  has  the  fact  that  the 
development  of  the  body  is  absolutely  essential  to  the  development 
of  the  mind? 

15.  Why  is  it  that  American  schools  have  not  used  play  and 
games  to  the  full  extent  of  their  possibilities? 

16.  Professor  Swift  tells  us  in  Mind  in  the  Making  that  many 
great  men  in  this  country  and  England  were  slow  in  their  develop- 
ment, got  little  benefit  from  their  attendance  at  school  and  were 
considered  weak-minded  by  their  teachers.    What  explanation  can 
you  give? 

17.  Look  up  the  biographies  of  eminent  men  and  see  if  you  find 
that  as  many  of  these  men  were  precocious  as  children  as  were 
backward. 

18.  What  motives  have  induced  school  authorities  to  put  manual 
training  into  the  schools? 

19.  If  mind  and  body  are  so  closely  related,  can  we  say  that  all 
education  is  education  of  the  mind? 

20.  What  is  meant  by  'hygiene  of  the  mind'?     Is  there  any 
hygiene  of  the  mind  apart  from  the  hygiene  of  the  body? 


22       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

21.  G.  Stanley  Hall  says  that  school  hygiene  is  the  most  im- 
portant part  of  pedagogy.     In  what  sense  is  this  true? 

22.  Is  your  own  body  in  good  condition?    Are  your  eyes  and 
ears  perfect?    Would  there  be  as  good  reason  for  requiring  teach- 
ers to  pass  a  physical  examination  as  there  is  for  requiring  them 
to  pass  a  mental  examination?    Do  you  know  of  any  cities  that 
require  teachers  to  pass  a  physical  examination? 

23.  To  what  extent  should  teachers  be  prepared  to  examine  and 
test  the  pupils  as  to  their  physical  health  and  sensory  capacity? 
Should  some  training  in  medicine  and  nursing  be  part  of  a  teacher's 
equipment? 

24.  Describe  simple  tests  for  determining  visual  and  auditory 
defects.    Give  illustrations  of  the  effects  on  life  and  character  of 
such  defects. 

BEFERENCES. 

The  evidence  of  the  evolution  of  organic  forms  is  the  whole 
science  of  biology,  and  specific  references  are  almost  out  of  the 
question,  and  since  no  student  should  undertake  the  study  of  edu- 
cational psychology  without  at  least  a  general  knowledge  of  biology, 
such  references  are  unnecessary.  The  general  nature  of  this  evi- 
dence, however,  may  be  found  in  such  books  as : 

J.  LeConte,  Evolution;  its  nature  and  evidences  and  its  rela- 
tion to  Religious  Thought,  1891. 

H.  F.  Osborne,  From  the  Greeks  to  Darwin,  1902. 

General  text-books  in  zoology. 

A  good  notion  of  the  significance  of  the  doctrine  of  evolution 
may  be  obtained  from  the  essays  in  the  commemorative  volume, 
Fifty  Tears  of  Darwinism,  1909. 

On  the  evolution  of  mind,  see  the  article  on  Evolution  and  Psy- 
chology, by  G.  Stanley  Hall,  in  Fifty  Years  of  Darwinism;  also, 
E.  L.  Thorndike,  The  Evolution  of  the  Human  Intellect,  in  Popular 
Science  Monthly,  1901,  Vol.  Ix,  58. 

E.  A.  Kirkpatrick,  Point  of  View  of  Genetic  Psychology,  Journal 
of  Ed.  Psy.,  Vol.  i,  76 ;  Genetic  Psychology,  1909,  Ch.  xi. 

On  the  relation  of  mind  and  body :  H.  Miinsterberg,  Psychology 
and  the  Teacher,  1909,  Chs.  xiii  and  xiv. 

E.  B.  Titchener,  A  Textbook  of  Psychology,  1910,  pp.  9-15. 

On  the  dependence  of  mental  development  on  muscular  develop- 
ment :  Hall's  Adolescence,  Ch.  iii. 

H.  H.  Donaldson,  The  Growth  of  the  Brain,  1899 ;  is  a  book  that 
emphasizes  the  importance  of  the  brain  and  nervous  system  in  edu- 
cation. 

On  mental  and  physical  examination  and  medical  inspection: 
G.  M.  Whipple,  Manual  of  Mental  and  Physical  Tests,  1910.  Tests 
of  sensory  capacity,  Ch.  xi.  Questions  in  School  Ilygiene,  1909; 
very  helpful  in  the  study  of  school  hygiene;  gives  extended  refer- 
ences on  all  aspects  of  the  subject 

L.  II.  Gulick  and  L.  P.  Ayres,  Medical  Inspection  of  Schools, 


BODY   AND    MIND  23 


1910.  A  splendid  treatment  of  the  subject.  The  student  is  espe- 
cially referred  to  the  first  three  chapters  for  a  general  treatment 
of  the  subject,  and  to  chapter  viii  for  examinations  of  vision  and 
audition. 

Any  good  text  in  school  hygiene  gives  directions  for  tests  of 
sensory  capacity.  See  such  as  those  by  Barry,  Hope,  Newsholme 
and  Shaw. 

J.  M.  Taylor,  Motor  Education  for  the  Child,  Pop.  Sci.  Mo., 
Ixxviii,  2G8 ;  L.  M.  Terman,  The  Relation  of  Manual  Arts  to  Health, 
Pop.  Sci.  Mo.,  Ixxviii,  602. 

V.  L.  Kellogg,  Darwinism  Today,  1908;  M.  M.  Metcalf,  An  Out- 
line of  the  Theory  of  Organic  Evolution,  1904;  B.  B.  Poulton, 
Essays  on  Evolution,  1908:  II.  de  Vries,  Species  and  Varieties: 
Their  Origin  by  Mutation,  1905, 


CHAPTEB  HL 

HEBEDITY. 

What  we  mean  by  heredity. — If  we  apply  heat  to 
a  duck's  egg,  a  duckling  will  hatch  from  the  egg;  if  the 
heat  be  applied  to  a  hen's  egg,  then  a  chick  hatches 
from  the  egg.  We  never  have  any  doubt  about  the 
outcome  if  we  know  what  kind  of  egg  the  heat  is 
applied  to.  If  we  plant  corn,  and  the  proper  amount 
of  heat,  air  and  moisture  is  available,  the  seed 
sprouts,  produces  stalks  and  eventually  ears  of  corn. 
If  the  seed  planted  is  wheat,  then  wheat  grows  from 
the  seed.  An  acorn  produces  an  oak  and  not  an  elm. 
Here,  again,  we  have  no  doubt  about  the  outcome  if 
we  know  what  kind  of  seed  is  planted.  Such  popular 
expressions  as  "like  father,  like  son";  "chip  of 
the  old  block, ' '  etc.,  make  it  clear  that  it  is  the  popu- 
lar belief  that  the  same  rule  holds  good  with  man- 
kind, that  if  we  know  the  parents,  we  can  predict  with 
considerable  confidence  concerning  the  offspring.  It 
seems  to  be  a  universal  principle  in  the  organic  world 
that  like  produces  like.  The  new  being  is  not  exactly 
like  its  progenitors ;  there  is  always  some  variation, 
but  the  new  growth  is,  as  a  rule,  more  like  that  from 
which  it  came  than  it  is  like  the  forms  in  other  lines 
of  descent. 

Heredity  is  a  necessary  corollary  of  evolution,  for 
after  natural  selection  has  eliminated  the  unfit,  the 

[24] 


HEBEDITY  25 

characteristics  of  the  fit  must  be  transmitted  to  the 
next  generation.  One  of  the  fundamental  character- 
istics of  organic  matter  is  irritability.  This  means 
only  that  the  mechanical  and  chemical  effects  of  the 
environing  forces  bring  about  a  readjustment  of  the 
organism.  For  progressive  development  to  be  pos- 
sible the  organism  must  retain  some  trace  of  this 
readjustment  that  will  make  the  same  reaction  likely 
when  the  same  stimulus  is  repeated.  This  likelihood 
of  the  same  response  to  the  same  stimulus  is  the 
fundamental  fact  of  heredity. 

The  mechanism  of  heredity. — The  first  problem  set 
by  heredity  is  that  of  its  mechanism.  How  is  the 
transmission  of  characteristics  accomplished?  In 
the  lower  forms  of  animals — the  protozoa — the  prob- 
lem is  fairly  simple.  The  protozoan's  body  is  com- 
paratively simple  and  relatively  homogeneous.  The 
single  cell  merely  divides  to  produce  a  new  individ- 
ual. After  the  division,  each  of  the  new  animals  is 
composed  of  parts  of  the  various  simple  structures 
of  the  parent  animal,  and  retains  whatever  tenden- 
cies to  response  the  parent  had.  In  a  certain  sense 
there  is  no  heredity  among  these  lower  forms,  be- 
cause there  is  no  real  reproduction  here.  One  animal 
merely  divides  into  two  or  more  animals,  and  each 
of  the  new  animals  possesses  the  characteristics  of 
the  parent  form,  for  in  a  sense  they  are  the  parent. 
Only  two  principles,  then,  are  necessary  to  account 
for  heredity  among  the  lower  protozoa :  (1)  internal 
forces  of  the  organism  adjusting  it  to  the  forces  of 
the  environment;  (2)  the  formation  of  habits,  t.  e., 
the  fixing,  by  repetition,  of  types  of  response.  The 
responses  which  an  organism  gives  to  definite  stimn- 


26       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

lation  are  made  definite  by  repetition ;  the  result  of 
this  fixing  may  be  called  organic  habit. 

Among  higher  forms  of  animals  the  problem  is 
more  complex.  The  body  is  differentiated  into  vari- 
ous complex  substances  and  structures,  and  repro- 
duction is  not  accomplished  by  the  simple  division  of 
the  parent  form.  However,  although  the  problem 
here  is  more  complex  to  work  out  in  detail,  it  is  ulti- 
mately the  same  as  in  the  lower  forms  and  involves 
only  the  same  two  principles.  All  higher  animals 
come  from  a  fertilized  cell  or  egg.  This  single  cell  de- 
velops into  the  complex  structure  of  the  adult  animal. 
Of  course,  the  differentiation  of  special  reproductive 
tissue  and  body  tissue,  and  the  production  of  the 
latter  by  the  former,  presents  a  special  group  of 
problems.  Various  hypotheses  have  been  advanced 
to  account  for  the  facts, — such  as  Darwin's  pangene- 
sis  theory,  Weismann's  germ-plasm  theory,  the  pre- 
formation  theory,  and  what  might  be  called  the  dy- 
namic theory, — the  view  that  each  step  in  the  devel- 
oping individual  is  conditioned  by  the  environment. 
For  discussion  and  criticism  of  these  theories  the 
student  must  be  referred  to  biology. 

Recapitulation  and  heredity. — One  fact  of  hered- 
ity, fairly  well  established,  is  that  the  individual  in 
its  development  proceeds  through  successive  stages 
analogous  to  the  stages  passed  through  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  species.  This  fact  has  its  explanation  in 
the  two  facts  of  heredity  mentioned  above.  The  cell 
from  which  the  higher  animal  develops  possesses  the 
traces  or  effects  of  the  past  environment  of  the  ani- 
mal's kind  and  the  responses  to  that  environment; 
therefore,  if  the  proper  conditions  are  supplied  to 


HEREDITY 


27 


the  developing  cell  it  responds — in  its  adjustment — 
step  by  step  in  harmony  with  the  tissue  of  which  it 
is  a  part.  In  other  words,  a  developing  animal  re- 
sponds to  the  environing  forces  according  to  the 
habits  of  response  fixed  by  the  continued  responses 
of  its  ancestors.  Such,  briefly,  are  the  facts  of  the 
mechanism  of  heredity, — simple  enough  in  outline, 
but  it  may  be  a  long  time  before  the  biologist  can 
give  us  the  facts  in  detail. 

The  laws  of  heredity. — (1)  Galton's  law.  The  sta- 
tistical studies  of  Sir  Francis  Galton  and  others 
seem  to  indicate  a  tendency  toward  mediocrity.  Tall 
parents  have  children  taller  than  the  average,  but  not 
so  tall  as  the  parents ;  similarly,  the  children  of  short 
parents  are  shorter  than  the  average,  but  not  so 
short  as  their  own  parents.  The  children  of  un- 
usually intelligent  parents  are  above  the  average, 
but  not  so  intelligent  as  their  parents.  This  means 
that  the  offspring  tend  to  approach  a  type.  Statis- 
tics seem  to  indicate  that  this  is  true.  The  fact  is 
usually  known  as  Galton's  law,  and  is  stated  as  foL 
lows :  The  immediate  parents  contribute  one-half  of 
the  hereditary  tendency  of  the  offspring,  the  grand- 
parents one-fourth,  the  great-grandparents  one- 
eighth,  and  so  on  back.  Now,  while  statistics  indicate  a 
tendency  toward  an  average  or  type,  it  is  quite  likely 
that  the  facts  are  much  more  adequately  accounted 
for  in  other  ways.  (2)  Mendel's  law,  perhaps,  ex- 
presses a  more  fundamental  fact.  Eecent  studies  of 
heredity  indicate  that  physical  characteristics  are 
transmitted  as  unit  characters,  and  that  this  trans- 
mission is  pure.  For  example,  if  yellow  and  white 
corn  are  mixed  or  crossed,  the  first  crop  will  be  all 


28       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

yellow,  but  if  all  the  seed  of  the  second  crop  is 
planted  and  allowed  to  cross,  one-fourth  of  the  next 
crop  will  be  white,  and  if  planted  separately  will 
breed  true,  with  no  yellow  product,  showing  the  pure 
transmission  of  the  unit  character,  white,  although 
the  white  corn  had  been  crossed  with  yellow.  This 
principle  of  transmission  has  already  been  found  to 
cover  a  large  number  of  cases,  and  may  ultimately 
be  proved  to  be  a  general  law  of  physical  heredity 
of  wide  application. 

Mental  heredity.  —  Are  mental  characteristics 
transmitted  in  the  same  way  as  physical?  From 
what  we  know  of  the  intimate  relation  of  mind  and 
body,  mental  heredity  becomes  a  natural  and  legit- 
imate inference  from  the  facts  of  physical  heredity, 
since  the  nervous  structures  that  underlie  mental 
traits  and  tendencies  doubtless  are  inherited.  The 
few  studies  that  have  been  made  on  mental  heredity 
corroborate  this  inference.  However,  the  detailed 
facts  of  mental  heredity  have  yet  to  be  made  out.  It 
may  be  a  reasonable  conjecture  at  this  stage  of  our 
knowledge  that  mental  traits  are  transmitted  by 
heredity  in  just  as  true  a  sense  as  are  physical  traits, 
and  we  may  even  guess  that  there  are  unit  characters 
of  mind  corresponding  to  unit  physical  characters, 
but  this  is  a  mere  guess,  and  there  is  practically  no 
evidence  at  this  time  to  support  it. 

Special  facts  of  heredity.— ( 1 )  Atavism.  Occasion- 
ally children  are  born  possessing  some  peculiarity 
not  now  common,  but  supposed  to  have  been  a  com- 
mon attribute  of  remote  ancestors.  This  reappear- 
ance of  old  characters  is  known  as  atavism.  Exam- 
ples are  extra  digits,  hairy  or  horny  skin,  etc.  When 


HEREDITY  29 

these  characteristics  appear,  they  usually  persist  in 
the  offspring  for  several  generations.  There  is  a 
record  of  six  generations  of  horny-handed  people  in 
France.  (2)  Disease  not  inherited.  It  seems  to  be 
established  that  diseases  are  not  inherited.  They 
may  be  transmitted  by  infection  from  mother  to  off- 
spring before  birth,  but  not  inherited  in  the  true 
sense.  (3)  Acquired  characteristics  not  inherited. 
In  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  it  looks  as  if 
the  past  ages  of  our  experience  have  given  the  germ- 
cell  such  inertia  or  momentum  that  little,  if  any, 
effect  is  produced  on  the  germ-development  by  the 
life  of  the  immediate  parents  before  the  germ  begins 
its  development.  It  is  perhaps  impossible  for  any 
effect  to  be  produced,  for  early  in  the  development  of 
the  individual  the  reproductive  tissue  is  differenti- 
ated from  the  body — or  somatic — tissue.  The  body 
tissue  supplies  it  with  nourishment,  but  is  helpless  to 
produce  other  effects  than  those  that  proceed  from 
good  or  poor  nourishment.  The  effects  of  our  educa- 
tion and  training  are  not  transmitted  to  our  children, 
but  the  neuromuscular  structures  that  make  our  own 
training  possible  are  transmitted  to  them.  Any  spon- 
taneous variation  of  the  germ-cell  making  possible 
unusual  education  and  training  is  doubtless  trans- 
mitted by  heredity,  and  this  is  an  important  fact  for 
education,  for  it  amounts  to  the  same  thing  as  the 
transmission  of  our  acquirements.  Although  the 
child  can  not  inherit  the  learning  of  his  father,  he 
may,  perhaps,  inherit  the  capacity  for  such  learning. 
The  only  bad  thing  is  that  the  young  must  go  through 
the  learning  process,  and  this  may  not  be  without  its 
blessing. 


30       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

Social  heredity.  —  Although  acquired  characters 
are  not  transmitted,  the  fact  that  children  live  for  many 
years  with  their  parents  and  gradually  take  on  the  be- 
liefs, manners,  customs,  traditions,  and  even  the  poli- 
tics and  religion  of  their  parents,  largely  takes  the 
place  of  such  transmission.  This  means  of  coming  into 
possession  of  the  social  products  of  civilization  is 
known  as  social  heredity.  It  is  not  heredity  in  the 
same  sense  as  the  other  form  of  transmission  that 
we  have  discussed,  which  may  be  called  natural 
heredity,  but  since  the  result  is  to  make  children  like 
their  parents  and  elders  in  social  habits,  social  hered- 
ity is  a  very  appropriate  term.  We  learn  to  speak, 
write,  and  in  general  act  as  our  parents  do,  much  as 
if  instincts  for  these  performances  were  inherited. 
The  attainments  of  parents  and  adults  generally  are 
handed  down  to  the  children  of  the  generation 
through  social  heredity.  This  influence  is  almost  as 
certain  and  definite  as  natural  heredity.  We  are  born 
into  a  system  of  social  relationships,  and  through 
imitation  we  learn  to  play  our  part  in  these  relation- 
ships. However,  the  only  field  left  open  for  social 
heredity  is  that  not  covered  by  inherited  instincts, 
except  that  there  is  a  certain  possibility  of  modifying 
these  instincts  through  social  pressure.  It  may  be 
said  that  the  strength  and  definiteness  of  social 
heredity  is  inversely  proportional  to  that  of  natural 
heredity.  The  old,  individualistic  instincts  are  least 
affected  by  social  pressure.  The  importance  of  so- 
cial heredity  is  due  to  two  facts :  (1)  the  long  period 
of  infancy  and  (2)  the  strength  of  imitation  during 
early  life.  During  the  long  period  of  infancy  the 
child  is  plastic  and  takes  on  the  form  of  activity  that 


HEREDITY  31 

he  sees  about  him.  He  continues  to  imitate  what  he 
sees  till  the  response  becomes  a  fixed  habit  and  a  part 
of  his  nature,  approximating  instincts  in  definiteness 
and  regularity.  By  the  time  that  we  reach  maturity, 
social  pressure,  acting  upon  our  inherited  instincts, 
has  moulded  us  into  the  sort  of  responding  organism 
that  we  are  to  be  through  life,  the  acquired  habits 
being  largely  matters  of  reflex  response  and  under 
the  control  of  the  centers  of  the  spinal  cord.  So  the 
importance  of  social  heredity,  within  the  limits  of  its 
possibilities,  is  about  as  great  as  that  of  natural 
heredity. 

Educational  inferences. —  (1)  The  tremendous 
force  of  heredity.  We  are  more  alike  than  we  are 
different.  The  older  racial  traits  are  the  strongest, 
and  the  fundamental  characteristics  of  our  race  are 
measurably  the  same  for  all  of  us.  These  common 
factors  of  heredity  may  be  presupposed  by  education. 
(2)  The  great  importance  of  small  differences.  It  is 
the  fact  that  we  are,  on  the  whole,  alike  that  gives  to 
small  variations  their  great  importance.  Small  dif- 
ferences may  ultimately  mean  a  fool,  on  the  one  hand, 
or  a  genius,  on  the  other.  A  favorable  environment  may 
mean  the  saving  of  the  fool,  helping  him  to  become 
sslf-supporting  and  keeping  him  out  of  the  poor- 
house  or  prison;  while  an  unfavorable  environment 
may  make  of  him  a  criminal  or  pauper.  It  is  also  in 
the  interest  of  society  to  favor,  in  every  possible  way, 
the  development  of  any  unusual  capacity  in  an  indi- 
vidual. (3)  Eugenics.  This  term  may  be  defined  as 
the  science  of  improving  the  human  race  by  breeding. 
It  undertakes  to  discover  the  laws  of  heredity  and 
consciously  to  apply  them  to  the  improvement  of  the 


32       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

human  stock.  It  may  hope  at  least  to  conserve  the 
small  favorable  variations  and  to  some  extent  elimi- 
nate the  unfit.  (4)  The  development  of  social  ideas 
now  renders  largely  impossible  the  elimination,  by 
natural  selection,  of  the  socially  unfit.  Therefore, 
the  only  way  to  eliminate  them  is  to  make  their  origin 
impossible.  The  importance  of  the  study  of  heredity, 
with  the  idea  of  discovering  its  laws  and  applying 
them  to  the  improvement  of  the  human  race,  is  very 
great.  Teachers  should,  therefore,  lend  their  influ- 
ence to  social  measures  looking  toward  the  study  of 
heredity  by  the  pure  and  applied  sciences. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOB  FURTHEB  STUDY. 

1.  Distinguish  between  facts  and  theories  of  heredity. 

2.  Write  a  brief  statement  summarizing  the  main  facts  of  hered- 
ity. 

3.  What  aspects  of  heredity  do  we  try  to  account  for  by  theo- 
ries?   What  theory  seems  to  account  best  for  the  facts? 

4.  Make  a  study  of  your  own  physical  and  mental  inheritance. 
Consider  height,  hair  and  eye  color  and  such  mental  traits  as  you 
can  get  data  on.     Do  you  find  any  evidence  of  Galton's  law,  of 
Mendel's  law? 

5.  Do  you  find  in  your  study  any  evidence  of  the  transmission 
of  eye  defects;  of  any  other  physical  defects  or  deformities? 

6.  Collect  statistics  showing  the  Inheritance  of  mental  traits. 
Can  you  eliminate  the  effects  of  training  and  imitation  on  the 
traits  studied? 

7.  Can  you  trace  the  Inheritance  of  specific  traits  to  your 
mother,  to  your  father,  to  a  more  remote  ancestor? 

8.  Is  there  any  specific  branch  of  study  in  which  you  inherit 
either  superior  or  Inferior  ability?    Can  you  eliminate  the  effects 
of  training  and  Imitation? 

9.  Collect  statistics  showing  that  genius  Is  the  result  of  nature, 
and  not  nurture.    Can  you  cite  evidence  that  seems  to  show  the 
contrary? 

10.  Is  It  probable  that  many  unusual  minds  are  lost  to  society 
on  account  of  an  unfavorable  environment? 

11.  Discuss  the  following  statement  of  Thorndike's :    "The  one 
thing  that  educational  theorists  of  today  seem  to  place  as  the  fore- 
most duty  of  the  schools — development  of  powers  and  capacities — 
Is  the  one  thing  that  the  schools  or  any  other  educational  forces 
can  do  least."— Ed.  Pay.,  1903,  p.  45. 


HEBEDITY  33 

12.  Make  a  list  of  mental  characteristics  that  are  little  affected 
by  the  schools. 

13.  From  the  point  of  view  of  heredity,  how  ma^  we  state  the 
function  of  the  schools? 

14.  Is  it  possible  to  determine  the  relative  influence  of  heredity 
and  environment  in  the  case  of  the  Jukes  family? 

15.  Collect  evidence  showing  the  outcome  of  raising  children  of 
poor  parentage  in  good  environments ;  be  sure  of  your  facts  con- 
cerning the  child's  parentage. 

16.  Cite  facts  showing  that  we  are  not  all  equal  by  birth. 

17.  Should  the  schools  undertake  to  discover  the  natural  capaci- 
ties of  individuals  and  educate  accordingly?    If  a  person  has  am- 
bition for  a  career  in  a  certain  field,  but  has  little  capacity  in 
that  field,  should  he  be  encouraged  to  carry  out  his  ambitions  in 
that  direction?     Should  everyone  be  given  a  higher  education? 
Does  society  have  any  right  to  set  any  limitation  to  the  pursuits 
of  an  individual? 

18.  Do  you  know  of  any  cases  of  atavism  or  reversion? 

19.  Make  a  list  of  the  characteristics  that  you  have  as  a  result 
of  social  heredity. 

20.  Mention  several  things  in  the  line  of  race  improvement  that 
the  State  is  warranted  in  doing  now.    Cite  examples  of  the  propa- 
gation of  the  grossly  unfit. 

REFERENCES. 

For  Brief  General  Treatment : 

E.  L.  Thorndike,  Educational  Psychology,  1910,  Chs.  v  and  vil ; 

E.  A.  Kirkpatrick,  Fundamentals  of  Child  Study,  1909,  Ch.  xv. 
On  the  Biological  Aspects  or  Heredity: 

J.  Loeb,  The  Dynamics  of  Living  Matter,  1906 ;  E.  B.  Wilson, 
The  Cell:  Its  Development  and  Heredity,  1896;  H.  B.  Orr, 
A  Theory  of  Development  and  Heredity,  1895;  A.  Weismann, 
The  Germ  Plasm,  1893,  especially  part  1 ;  G.  J.  Romanes,  An 
Examination  of  Weismannism,  1899,  especially  chapter  iii ;  H. 
de  Vries,  Species  and  Varieties:  Their  Origin  and  Mutation, 
1906,  The  Mutation  Theory,  1910;  G.  A.  Reid,  The  Principles 
of  Heredity,  1905,  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  physician ;  J.  A. 
Thompson,  Heredity,  1908 ;  D.  C.  Punnett,  Mendelism,  1911. 
On  Mental  Heredity : 

F.  Galton,  Hereditary  Genius.  1892 ;  Natural  Inheritance,  1894 ; 
Noteworthy  Families.  1906;  E.  L.  Thorndike,  Educational  Psy- 
chology, 1910,  pp.  77-103;  The  Measurement  of  Twins,  1905; 
K.  Pearson,  Nature,  Vol.  Ixv,  p.  118. 

On  Social  Heredity: 

J.  M.  Baldwin,  Mental  Development,  Vol.  ii.  p.  57;  E.  A.  Kirk- 
patrick, Fundamentals  of  Child  Study,  p.  297. 

On  Nature  versus  Nurture : 

E.  M.  Elderton,  On  the  Measurement  of  Resemblance  of  Firat 
Cousins,  1907 ;  The  Relative  Strength  of  Nurture  and  Nature, 


34 


1909;  F.  A.  Woods,  Mental  and  Moral  Heredity  in  Royalty, 
1906 ;  also  in  Popular  Science  Monthly,  Vol.  Ixi,  3G9,  449,  50G ; 
Vol.  Ixii,  76,  167;  H.  Ellis,  A  Study  of  British  Genius,  Pop. 
Sci.  Mo.,  Vol.  Iviii,  595 ;  Vol.  Ivix,  59,  209,  266,  373,  441 ;  R.  L. 
Dugdale,  The  Jukes,  1902;  A.  E.  Winshop,  Jukes-Edtcards,  A 
Study  in  Education  and  Heredity,  1900;  W.  S.  Church  and 
others,  The  Influence  of  Heredity  on  Disease,  1909;  E.  L. 
Thorndike,  Heredity,  Correlation  and  Sex  Difference  in  School 
Children,  1903,  p.  41,  in  Columbia  Conts.  to  Phil.,  Psy.  and 
Ed.,  Vol.  xi,  No.  2 ;  Notes  on  Child  Study,  1903,  p.  146,  Educa- 
tional Psychology,  1910,  pp.  138-141. 
On  Eugenics : 

K.  Pearson,  The  Groundwork  of  Eugenics,  1909;  The  Scope 
and  Importance  to  the  State  of  the  Science  of  National  Eu- 
genics, 1909;  The  Problems  of  Practical  Eugenics,  1909;  also 
In  Pop.  Sci.  Mo.,  Vol.  Ixxi,  385 ;  F.  Galton,  Pop.  Sci.  Mo.,  Vol. 
Ixxi,  1(55;  C.  B.  Daveniport,  Eugenics,  1910;  Eugenics  and 
Euthenics,  Pop.  Sci.  Mo.,  Ixxviii,  116;  W.  E.  Kellicott,  The 
Social  Direction  of  Human  Evolution,  1911 ;  C.  Davenport, 
Heredity  in  Relation  to  Eugenics,  1911, 


CHAPTER   IV. 
INSTINCTS. 

Definition  and  description. — Instincts  are  definite, 
complex  forms  of  inherited  response  to  definite  stim- 
uli.* The  stimuli  may  be  definite  situations  in  the 
environment  or  definite  changes  in  the  body  of  the 
animal.  Through  heredity,  these  responses  have 
become  fixed  in  the  organism.  The  basis  of  instinct 
is  inherited  structure.  The  co-ordination  of  a  par- 
ticular form  of  response  with  a  particular  kind  of 
stimulus  is  already  provided  for  in  the  neuromuscu- 
lar  structure  of  the  animal  possessing  the  instinctive 
tendency,  so  that  when  the  appropriate  stimulus  ap- 
pears the  appropriate  response,  rather  than  some 
other,  takes  place.  An  illustration  will  make  the  mat- 
ter clear.  The  building  of  a  nest  the  first  time  by  a 
bird,  say  an  oriole,  is  instinctive.  Certain  changes 
in  the  oriole 's  body,  that  may  have  some  relation  to 
seasonal  changes,  is  the  stimulus.  The  oriole  sets  to 
work  and  builds  a  nest  of  definite  type,  without  ever 
having  learned  how,  and  without  ever  having  seen 
one  built  before.  When  the  nest  is  made,  the  eggs 
are  laid  in  the  nest  rather  than  somewhere  else.  The 
mother  bird  sits  upon  the  eggs  and  hatches  them, 
feeds  the  young  and  protects  them, — in  a  word,  the 
whole  process  of  brooding  is  performed  without  the 

•Although  Instinct  is  here  defined  as  a  form  of  action,  the  term 
Is  occasionally  used  in  the  text  to  designate  the  impulse  or  tendency. 

[35] 


36       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

mother  bird  being  taught  how.  Instinctive  actions, 
then,  are  those  that  an  animal  can  perform  without 
having  to  learn  how.  As  a  rule,  they  are  performed 
well  the  first  time,  provided  that  the  inherited  struc- 
ture underlying  them  is  sufficiently  developed.  If  a 
young  bird  is  thrown  out  of  its  nest  before  its  muscles 
and  feathers  are  sufficiently  developed,  its  flying  is 
poor  and  awkward,  but  if  the  bird  is  sufficiently  de- 
veloped it  flies  well  on  the  first  day  of  its  flight. 

We  have  said  that  instincts  are  definite  forms  of  re- 
sponse, but  there  is  variability  from  zero  fixity  on  the 
one  hand,  to  almost  absolute  fixity,  on  the  other.  The 
oldest  instincts  are,  as  a  rule,  the  most  fixed  and  defi- 
nite and  least  variable,  while  those  forms  of  instinct- 
ive action  latest  acquired  in  the  history  of  the  race 
or  species  are,  as  a  rule,  the  least  definite  and  most 
variable.  Instincts  that  lead  to  self-preservation 
and  self-protection  and  to  the  preservation  of  the 
species  are,  on  the  whole,  the  most  fixed  and  invari- 
able. Natural  selection,  acting  through  unnumbered 
ages,  has  perfected  instinctive  responses.  For  every 
form  of  animal  life  the  individual  gets  along  best,  on 
the  average,  by  a  certain  type  of  response  to  the  vari- 
ous situations  that  the  species  has  to  meet.  Natural 
selection  perpetuates  those  individuals  that  give  this 
response  and  eliminates  those  that  do  not.  A  study 
of  the  animals  as  they  exist  in  the  world  today  shows 
a  most  delicate  inherited  adjustment  to  those  condi- 
tions of  the  environment  that  are  the  most  general 
and  constant.  To  the  less  general  and  constant  fac- 
tors the  inherited  forms  of  response,  if  »iy,  are  less 
constant  and  more  variable.  In  a  strict  sense,  there 
is  perhaps  never  absolute  invariability  of  inherited 


INSTINCTS  37 

response,  but  there  is  an  approach  to  it,  and  the  near- 
ness of  this  approach  marks  the  strength  of  the  in- 
stinctive tendency. 

Instincts  differ  from  reflex  action  in  the  matter  of 
complexity  only,  for  they  are  alike  in  both  being  in- 
herited forms  of  action  or  response.  The  term  in- 
stinct is  reserved  for  the  more  complex  adjustments 
involving  usually  a  series  of  reflexes, — the  latter 
being  simple  responses  usually  of  single  muscles  or 
a  single  group  of  muscles.  Winking  the  eyelid,  for 
example,  is  a  reflex;  the  building  of  a  nest  is  a  series 
of  reflexes  or  an  instinct.  But,  as  responses,  their 
only  difference  is  that  of  complexity.  While  instincts 
differ  from  reflexes  in  the  matter  of  complexity,  both 
differ  from  habits  in  the  matter  of  origin.  Habits, 
too,  are  more  or  less  definite  responses  to  definite 
situations,  but  the  definiteness  of  the  habit  is  ac- 
quired and  is  due  to  repetition  in  the  lifetime  of  the 
individual. 

Experimental  studies  of  instinct. — Our  knowledge 
of  instinct  has  been  greatly  enlarged  in  recent  years 
by  systematic  observations  and  experiments  carried 
ion  by  the  zoologist,  as  well  as  the  psychologist. 
Among  the  first  experimenters  was  Spalding.  Some 
of  his  experiments  with  chickens  show  very  clearly 
the  nature  of  instinct.  He  found  that  young  chicks 
could  peck  accurately  without  having  to  learn  how. 
Before  they  were  four  days  old,  chicks  would  follow 
any  moving  object,  but  if  kept  hooded  till  about  the 
fourth  day  they  would  then  flee  from  any  moving 
object.  He  found  that  chicks  could  find  their  way  to 
the  mother  hen  by  the  sound  of  her  cluck  alone, 
although  their  ears  had  been  kept  previously  cov- 


38       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGT 

ered  with  wax.  The  chicks  would  hide  from  hawks 
the  first  time  that  they  heard  a  hawk.  Chicks  chirp- 
ing in  the  shell  would  stop  chirping  on  hearing  the 
warning  note  of  the  mother  hen.  Although  chickens 
may  be  kept  with  turkeys,  they  continue  to  catch  flies 
in  their  own  inherited  way  rather  than  in  the  better 
way  used  by  the  turkeys.  A  young  chick  will  run 
away  with  a  morsel  of  food,  although  no  other  chick 
be  near  to  interfere.  Numerous  experimental  studies 
show  that  not  only  in  the  chick,  but  in  all  animals, 
most  of  the  responses  that  are  necessary  to  survival 
are  provided  for  in  the  inherited  organism.  When 
the  time  is  ripe  the  action  is  performed  without  the 
necessity  of  learning  it.  Only  a  little  observation  is 
needed  to  show  that  mammals,  the  highest  of  animal 
forms,  perform  most  of  the  important  functions  of 
life  without  learning.  A  lamb  will  walk  within  one 
minute  after  birth;  a  colt  within  twenty  minutes. 
The  sucking  reflex  is  usually  ready  to  function  at 
birth.  And  so  on  through  the  list  of  what  the  animal 
must  do, — locomotion,  taking  food,  the  various  re- 
sponsive relations  to  parents,  to  enemies,  and  to  the 
different  natural  surroundings, — earth  and  air  and 
water,  light  and  darkness,  weather  conditions,  etc., — 
for  each  a  form  of  response  is  ready.  If  it  is  not 
ready  at  birth,  it  is  ready  when  the  need  arrives. 

Instinct  in  man. — Man  has  as  many  instincts  as  the 
other  animals,  perhaps  more.  There  are  instincts  of 
fear,  fighting,  sucking,  walking,  imitation,  play,  in- 
stincts concerned  with  reproduction,  others  con- 
cerned with  social  life,  and  so  on  through  a  long  list. 
Man  is  a  creature  of  instinct  and  habit.  It  is  true, 
he  is  also  a  creature  of  reason,  but  how  much  there  is 


INSTINCTS  39 

of  instinct  and  how  little  of  reason !  What  is  not  in- 
stinct is,  in  large  measure,  habit.  The  great  and 
powerful  sources  of  our  daily  action  lie  deep  in  our 
nature, — love  and  hate  and  fear,  jealousy  and 
rivalry,  competition  and  strife,  and  the  instinctive 
responses  characteristic  of  them,  are  as  old  as  the 
hills,  while  our  little  spark  of  reason  is  but  a  thing 
of  yesterday  and  today.  Our  bodies  have  come  down 
from  the  past ;  they  have  been  moulded  in  the  woods, 
and  their  equipment  is  that  which  led  to  the  survival 
of  our  ancestors  in  their  form  of  life.  It  is,  therefore, 
no  wonder  that  we  find  the  strongest  forces  of  our 
nature  to  be  the  heritage  which  these  ancestors  have 
left  us,  and,  of  course,  suited  to  primitive  forms  of 
living. 

Transitoriness  and  periodicity  of  instincts. — Some 
instinctive  tendencies  seem  to  be  transitory,  as  the 
instinct  of  following1  moving  objects  in  the  chick  as 
mentioned  above.  It  seems  that  the  developing  struc- 
ture of  the  animal  provides  a  certain  kind  of  response 
for  a  certain  stimulus  and  situation,  but  if  the  appro- 
priate stimulus  and  external  conditions  are  wanting 
when  the  structure  is  ready  for  them,  the  tendency  to 
definite  form  of  action  in  this  situation  passes  away. 
If  the  mother  hen  and  chick  are  together  for  the  first 
ten  days  of  the  chick's  life,  the  chick  responds  to  the 
mother's  call,  but  if  they  are  not  together,  then  the 
chick  " hears  the  call  as  if  it  heard  it  not";  it  pays 
no  attention  to  its  mother.  Instinctive  fear  is  not 
present  in  many  mammals  at  birth,  and  when  fear 
does  appear  it  is  not  manifested  toward  that  sur- 
rounding to  which  the  animal  has  become  accustomed 
in  the  meanwhile,  but  is  manifested  toward  strange 


40       THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

things.  If  a  cow  hide  her  calf  away  for  the  first  two 
or  three  weeks,  it  is  then  very  difficult  to  tame  the 
calf.  Many  such  acts,  as  the  burying  of  bones  by 
dogs,  of  nuts  by  squirrels,  are  doubtless  never  per- 
formed unless  the  conditions  are  favorable  for  the 
performance  when  the  instinctive  tendency  first 
ripens,  although  we  need  more  extended  studies  on 
this  subject  before  we  can  know  the  exact  facts. 
Many  instincts  show  a  certain  periodicity  of  occur- 
rence, such  as  instincts  concerned  with  reproduction 
that  recur  periodically,  and  instincts  that  concern  the 
animal's  relation  to  its  seasonal  environment,  that 
bring  about  migration,  hibernation,  etc.  Concern- 
ing the  transiency  of  instincts  in  the  developing  child, 
we  have  not  yet  sufficient  exact  knowledge  to  speak 
with  entire  confidence,  but  as  far  as  our  knowledge 
goes  it  looks  as  if  transiency  were  a  very  prominent 
characteristic  of  the  instincts  of  children.  Their 
varying  interests  seem  to  be  manifestations  of  their 
changing  and  developing  instincts. 

The  order  of  development  of  instincts. — One  of  the 
most  important  factors  that  must  be  worked  out  for 
the  science  of  education  is  the  natural  order  and 
sequence  of  the  developing  instincts  of  children.  The 
task  will  require  the  long  and  patient  work  of  many 
psychologists,  but  enough  has  already  been  done  to 
show  that  the  problem  is  solvable ;  in  fact,  to  a  con- 
siderable extent,  is  solved.  We  shall  know  presently 
the  natural  orderly  development  of  children ;  we  shall 
know  the  normal  ages  of  the  child  for  the  first  ap- 
pearance of  the  different  instincts,  the  conditions  of 
their  future  growth  or  atrophy,  their  relations  to 
environmental  conditions  and  their  mutual  inter- 


INSTINCTS  41 

dependence.  We  know  these  facts  already  in  broad 
outline.  The  order  of  development  has  been  fixed  by 
natural  selection  and  is  that  best  adapted  to  the  con- 
ditions of  life  in  the  later  existence  of  our  race.  To 
some  extent,  the  order  in  the  individual  may  be  the 
same  as  the  order  in  racial  development,  but  this 
need  not  at  all  be  the  case,  for  the  appearance  of 
instincts  doubtless  shifts  up  and  down  the  age  scale 
according  to  the  changing  conditions  and  demands  of 
the  life  of  the  species.  There  can  be  little  doubt,  how- 
ever, that  the  present  strength  of  an  instinctive  tend- 
ency depends  upon  its  age  and  function  in  the  history 
of  the  species.  On  the  whole,  the  motives  which  lead 
to  self-preservation  and  self-protection  are  much 
stronger  than  sympathetic  and  altruistic  motives. 
The  dependence  of  instincts  upon  external  condi- 
tions is  great  and  their  interrelations  are  important. 
The  development  of  many  instincts  is  largely  de- 
pendent upon  that  of  others,  and  unless  the  proper 
environmental  conditions  appear  the  instinct,  in 
many  cases,  will  not  become  perpetuated  in  the  indi- 
vidual's life.  Although  we  have  few  studies  on  the 
matter,  it  seems  that  there  is  a  most  favorable  time 
for  fixing  and  perpetuating  an  instinct  in  an  indi- 
vidual. The  child  passes  through  various  stages  of 
natural  interests,  when  his  whole  energy  seeks  an 
outlet  in  one  direction,  and  there  can  be  no  question 
of  the  necessity  of  taking  advantage  of  these  succes- 
sive waves  of  natural  interests  which  underlie  inher- 
ited action,  i.  e.,  instincts.  We  must  "strike  while 
the  iron  is  hot.'*  Teachers  worry  a  great  deal  about 
how  to  interest  children  in  this  or  that.  This  worry 


42       THE   OUTLINES   OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

is  wholly  unnecessary  and  fruitless.  A  teacher  can 
no  more  give  a  child  an  interest  that  he  does  not  have 
than  he  can  add  to  his  own  stature  "by  taking 
thought."  And  the  earlier  that  teachers  learn  this, 
the  better  for  their  teaching.  What  the  teacher 
should  have  is  (1)  a  knowledge  of  what  kind  of  thing 
the  child  should  finally  be  and  (2)  a  knowledge  of  the 
proper  manipulation  of  the  child's  environment  to 
lead  to  the  fixing  and  perpetuating  of  the  desirable 
instincts  and  the  inhibition  and  final  atrophy  of  the 
undesirable  ones.  It  may  very  well  be,  however,  that 
many,  perhaps  most,  of  the  undesirable  instincts 
should  be  allowed  some  activity  because  of  their  rela- 
tion to  the  development  of  other  instincts  that  are 
desirable.  The  facts  and  details  of  these  matters 
must  be  known  to  the  teacher.  The  chapters  which 
immediately  follow  undertake  to  state  these  facts  as 
far  as  we  at  present  know  them.  It  needs  only  to  be 
said  here  that  the  instincts  seem  to  have,  each,  its 
most  favorable  periods  for  development. 

Early  specialisation  of  instincts.  —  It  was  noted 
above  that  the  chick  at  first  will  follow  any  moving 
object  about  it.  This  is  usually  a  hen,  but  may  be  a 
dog  or  a  man,  but  whatever  it  first  follows,  this  it 
continues  to  follow  until  it  learns  to  look  out  for  it- 
self. This  early  specialisation  of  the  stimulus  seems 
to  be  a  feature  of  many  instincts.  At  first,  any  one 
of  a  number  of  things  or  situations  may  call  forth 
the  response.  What  the  first  stimulus  is  may  be 
largely  a  matter  of  chance,  but  afterwards  the  chance 
initial  connection  becomes  permanent  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  other  originally  possible  connections.  It  may 


INSTINCTS  43 

be  a  matter  of  a  particular  kind  of  food,  a  particular 
home,  a  particular  route,  etc.  In  birds  we  have  exam- 
ples of  periodicity  in  their  mating,  selecting  one  bird 
rather  than  another  and  sticking  to  this  partner 
through  the  season.  It  appears  that  at  first  the  nature 
of  the  stimulus  for  a  particular  kind  of  response  is 
generic.  Any  one  of  the  genus  may  call  forth  the  re- 
sponse, but  very  soon  the  response  becomes  associated 
to  a  particular  one  of  those  possible.  Although  the 
happy  maiden  says  that  a  certain  man  is  the  only  one 
in  the  world  that  she  could  possibly  live  with,  she  is 
pretty  far  from  the  truth,  for  almost  any  one  of  the 
other  billions  would  do  just  as  well.  It  is  largely  a 
matter  of  chance  which  one  is  first  thrown  in  her  way, 
which  one  first  calls  forth  the  response  of  love.  The 
girl  thinks  that  the  forces  of  the  universe  have  been  at 
work  through  all  eternity  fashioning  for  her  the  one 
man.  So  they  have,  in  a  sense,  but  if  she  had  lived 
in  the  next  ward  or  the  next  county,  the  man  would 
have  been  a  different  one.  But  after  chance  has  once 
brought  them  together,  the  love  of  other  men  is  in 
large  measure  inhibited.  This  general  fact  of  the 
specialisation  of  stimulus  is  important  for  education, 
because  of  the  large  range  of  possibilities  in  what 
one  may  love  or  hate  or  fear  or  seek  or  imitate,  or 
collect  or  fight  or  kill.  Herein  lie  the  possibilities  of 
the  parent  and  teacher,  for  they  can  determine  and 
arrange  the  environment,  throw  this  or  that  into  the 
child's  way,  take  this  or  that  out  of  the  child's  way. 
While  the  child  instinctively  responds  to  what  is 
there,  the  response  may  be  associated  with  desirable 
features  of  the  environment  rather  than  with  unde- 


44       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

sirable  ones.  Although  no  man  can  touch  a  child, 
although  the  child  is  impregnable,  unassailable,  still 
we  can,  within  the  limits  set  by  heredity,  tre- 
mendously affect  the  child's  development  by  our  ma- 
nipulation of  its  surroundings.  The  child  grows 
according  to  the  laws  of  its  own  nature,  but  we  can  in 
some  measure  control  its  surroundings,  which  call 
forth  its  actions,  and  thus  indirectly  affect  its  growth 
and  development.  More  than  this  we  can  not  do,  but 
a  knowledge  of  what  the  child  is  by  nature  and  of  the 
order  and  laws  of  its  growth  puts  immense  possibili- 
ties into  our  hands.  These  possibilities  slip  away 
the  moment  we  forget  what  children  are  by  nature. 

Classification  of  instincts. — Various  classifications 
of  instincts  have  been  used,  all  more  or  less  artificial 
and  arbitrary.  Perhaps  the  best  basis  for  classifica- 
tion is  the  necessities  that  have  occasioned  and  per- 
petuated the  instinctive  tendencies.  On  this  basis  we 
have  (1)  the  individualistic  instincts,  those  arising 
out  of  the  demands  of  individual  life,  such  as  the 
responses  connected  with  fear,  combat,  rivalry,  com- 
petition, obtaining  food,  escaping  enemies,  etc.  (2) 
Socialistic  instincts,  those  arising  out  of  the  demands 
of  social  life,  those  that  bring  about  the  survival  of 
the  group  as  well  as  that  of  the  individual,  such  as 
the  instincts  associated  to  sympathy,  co-operation, 
etc.  (3)  Sexual  or  parental  instincts,  those  arising 
out  of  the  necessities  of  sexual  life,  such  as  those  con- 
nected with  courtship,  mating,  home-building  and 
the  rearing  of  young.  (4)  Those  instincts  necessi- 
tated by  the  fact  of  growth  and  development  in  the 
life  of  an  individual  and  made  possible  by  the  period 


INSTINCTS 


45 


of  infancy.  They  may  therefore  be  called  adaptive 
or  developmental  instincts,  such  as  play  and  imita- 
tion, the  former  being  necessary  for  normal  growth 
and  the  latter  enabling  the  individual  to  learn  his 
environment  and  become  adapted  to  it.  (5)  There 
are  what  we  might  call  the  environmental  instincts, 
those  that  have  been  necessitated  by  the  changes  of 
seasons,  climate  and  food  supply,  such  as  collecting, 
migration  and  hibernation.  These  might  be  very 
well  included  under  the  individualistic  instincts,  but 
the  latter  are  primarily  those  that  function  without 
regard  to  time  or  place,  while  the  instincts  of  this 
class  are  entirely  necessitated  by  periodic  changes 
of  the  environment.  However,  we  attach  little  im- 
portance to  any  classification  of  instincts,  for  the 
needs  of  the  species  are  at  bottom  the  basis  of  all 
of  them.  Some  writers  have  made  still  another  class, 
namely,  the  moral  instincts,  but  it  is  very  doubtful 
whether  there  is  any  such  thing. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOB  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  Compare  the  various  definitions  of  instinct  given  by  psy- 
chologists and  zoologists  with  the  one  given  in  the  text     What 
two  types  of  definitions  do  you  find? 

2.  Enumerate  the  instinctive  actions  of  a  dog,  of  a  child.  Which 
is  the  longer  list? 

3.  Discuss  Loeb's  theory  of  the  nature  of  instinctive  action. 
Do  you  think  it  can  account  for  the  most  complex  instincts? 

4.  Is  the  walking  of  a  child  instinctive?     Answer  from  your 
own  observations,  and  also  consult  Major,  First  Steps  in  Mental 
Growth,  p.  348,  and  Kirkpatrick's  Fundamentals  of  Child-Study, 
pp.  79-81. 

5.  State  the  aim  of  education  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 

instincts. 

6.  Do  the  instincts  of  a  race  of  people  differ  from  age  to  age? 
Do  the  different  races  at  the  present  time  have  different  instincts? 

7.  Do  instincts  play  as  important  a  part  in  the  life  of  the  hu- 
man individual  as  they  do  in  the  life  of  the  lower  animal? 


46       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

8.  Can  you  give  any  evidence  of  an  animnl  losing  the  ability 
to  perform  such  a  basic  instinct  as  flying-.or  walking? 

9.  Can  you  give  any  evidence  to  show  that  moral  or  religious 
acts  are  instinctive? 

10.  If  the  instincts  of  all  children  are  nbout  the  same,  what 
constitutes  their  individual  differences  in  ability  and  capacity? 

11.  Is  the  first  response,  in  the  case  of  any  particular  instinct, 
complete  and  definite,  or  does  it  show  development  in  this  regard? 
Compare  various  instincts  of  different  animals  on  this  point. 

12.  Is  there  any  instinctive  element  in  speech? 

13.  Is  it  possible  by  controlling  the  environment  to  prevent  the 
appearance  of  an  undesirable  instinct? 

14.  Give  evidence  to  show  that  instincts  at  present  undesirable 
are  Important  in  the  development  of  the  individual. 

15.  Can  you  give  any  evidence  to  show  that  an  instinctive  ten- 
dency in  a  human  individual  can  disappear  from  disuse? 

16.  Are  the  lower  animals  guided  entirely  by  instinct ;  i.  e.,  are 
all  their  acts  instinctive? 

17.  Are  instincts  still  being  developed  in  the  human  race? 

18.  Is  instinctive  action  always  blind,  or  is  there  sometimes 
foresight  of  the  end?     Can  you  cite  any  evidence  of  an  instinct 
being  modified  by  experience? 

39.     Can  you  tell  anything  about  the  instincts  of  extinct  animals 
by  an  examination  of  their  fossil  remains? 

20.  Is  a  person's  action  dependent  more  upon  instinct  than  upon 
reasoning  and  thinking? 

21.  Make  a  list  of  all  the  human  actions,  that  you  notice  in  a 
day,  that  you  consider  instinctive. 

22.  Make  a  list  of  your  actions  for  a  day,  classifying  them  under 
the  headings  instinctive,  habitual,  result  of  choice  or  reason.  Which 
is  the  longer  list? 

23.  In  what  sense  are  our  instincts  the  basis  of  all  our  acquire- 
ments? 

24.  What  is  the  relation  of  the  instincts  to  feeling?    What  is 
the  James-Lange  theory  of  the  emotions? 

25.  Should  our  educational  systems  be  so  reconstructed  as  to 
have  a  basis  of  instinctive  interests? 

26.  Give  evidence  to  show  that  instincts  and  instinctive  inter- 
ests in  the  human  child  are  transitory,  and  show  the  importance  of 
this  fact  to  education. 

27.  Give  examples  to  show  that  in  great  crises  and  extreme 
situations  of  life,  the  culture  and  polish  of  our  young  civilization  is 
likely  to  give  place  to  old  and  fundamental  instinctive  actions. 

28.  Onr  instincts  fitted  us  for  our  primitive  life  in  the  woods. 
Do  they  fit  us  as  well  for  our  life  in  the  modern  city?    Is  there  any 
reason  for -say ing  that  the  child  is,  by  nature,  bad?    If  so,  in  what 
sense  do  we  use  the  term  ftarff 


INSTINCTS  47 

REFERENCES. 

W.  James,  Principles  of  Psychology,  189G,  Vol.  ii,  Ch.  xxiv;  B. 
A.  Kirkpatrick,  Fundamentals  of  Child  Study,  1909,  Chs.  iii  and 
iv;  H.  R.  Marshall,  Instinct  and  Reason,  1898;  C.  L.  Morgan, 
Animal  Life  and  Intelligence,  1895,  Ch.  xi ;  Habit  and  Instinct, 
1896;  G.  J.  Romanes,  Animal  Intelligence,  1892;  Eric  Wasmann, 
Instinct  and  Intelligence  in  the  Animal  Kingdom,  1903;  J.  Loeb, 
Psychology  of  the  Brain,  1903,  Ch.  xiii,  a  good  discussion  of  the 
physical  nature  of  the  basis  of  instinct ;  B.  L.  Thorndike,  Animal 
Intelligence,  1898;  A  report  of  the  early  experimental  work  of  D. 
A.  Spalding,  in  Popular  Science  Monthly,  Vol.  Ixi,  p.  126 ;  an  inter- 
esting series  of  articles  by  F.  H.  Herrick  on  Instinct  and  Intelli- 
gence in  Birds,  in  Pop.  Sci.  Mo.,  Vol.  Ixxvi,  p.  532 ;  Vol.  Ixvil,  pp. 
82  and  122 ;  Jordan  and  Kellogg,  Animal  Life,  Ch.  xiv,  a  very  good 
brief  statement  from  the  zoological  point  of  view ;  C.  H.  Judd, 
Psychology,  1907,  Ch.  viii. 


CHAPTEB  V. 
THE  INDIVIDUALISTIC  INSTINCTS. 

Number  and  nature. — The  individualistic  instincts 
are  many,  including  the  inherited  responses  associ- 
ated with  ambition,  rivalry,  pugnacity,  pride,  fear, 
feeding,  escaping  danger,  and  all  other  inherited 
responses  related  to  individual  survival.  An  exami- 
nation of  their  nature  shows  their  evident  fitness  for 
primitive  conditions  of  life.  The  tendencies  for  these 
responses  appear  in  children  with  tremendous 
strength,  as  every  parent  knows.  We  try  to  cover 
these  instincts  up  in  the  polite  society  of  modern 
times,  but  every  child  shows  unmistakably  by  its  self- 
ishness, pride,  jealousy,  combativeness,  unreasonable 
fear,  greediness,  and  so  on  through  a  long  list,  fa- 
miliar to  every  despairing  parent,  the  long  experience 
of  the  race  in  the  school  of  nature.  Consider,  for 
example,  a  child's  table  manners:  long  and  persist- 
ent efforts  are  necessary  to  suppress  the  savage  in- 
stincts and  to  establish  fairly  decent  habits.  With- 
out this  careful  training,  children  act  at  the  table 
much  as  do  pigs  at  their  trough.  Even  as  it  is,  in  the 
best  of  homes,  the  selfish  nature  of  the  child  is  at 
any  time  likely  to  burst  forth.  The  child  wishes  to 
eat  his  pie  first,  wishes  to  know  if  he  may  have  more 
when  "this  is  gone,"  and  whether  there  is  any  more. 
The  child  complains  because  a  brother  or  sister  has 
the  biggest  piece  of  cake,  or  more  of  this  or  that,  than 

[48] 


THE   INDIVIDUALISTIC   INSTINCTS  49 

he  has.  In  the  matter  of  play,  these  instincts  show 
themselves  strongly.  Children  can  not  play  long 
together  in  peace,  or  allow  other  children  to  play 
with  their  toys.  They  claim  to  be  bigger,  stronger, 
older,  richer,  etc.,  than  their  playmates.  Years  of 
training  enable  an  adult  to  cover  up  these  old 
tendencies,  to  some  extent,  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances, and  the  later  socialistic  instincts  show  con- 
siderable strength;  but  let  an  unusual  situation  ap- 
pear, and  much  too  often  down  goes  the  civilised  man 
and  up  comes  the  savage,  as  it  was  with  the  man  on 
Cayuga  lake,  some  summers  ago,  when  the  burning 
boat  was  about  to  sink.  Seizing  one  of  the  few  avail- 
able life-preservers  and  jumping  overboard  to  swim 
ashore,  he  cried :  * '  Fifty  dollars  to  any  one  who  will 
save  my  wife ! ' '  Setting  forth  the  strength  of  these 
old  instincts  does  not  mean  that  we  are  not  to  try  to 
subdue  our  savage  nature,  but  that  a  consideration 
of  their  tenacity  may  show  that  long  and  persistent 
training  is  necessary  to  form  habits  that  function 
on  a  higher  level  than  these  instincts.  Instinctive 
responses  that  lead  to  self-preservation  must  be 
strong  in  all  species  that  survive.  Only  in  rare  cases 
does  any  motive  prove  stronger  in  crucial  situations 
than  that  of  self-preservation.  But  these  cases  do 
occur,  although  rare,  in  the  love  of  parent  for  child, 
in  devotion  to  duty  and  to  truth.  For  these,  many 
men  have  sacrificed  their  lives.  Mankind  has  always 
regarded  these  acts  as  the  noblest  of  deeds. 

The  child  tries  to  turn  everything  to  his  own  good 
and  interprets  everything  in  terms  of  self.  Of  course, 
there  are  exceptions,  especially  in  the  child's  relation 
to  his  parents,  but  the  child  learns  to  identify  his  own 


50       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

interests  with  those  of  his  parents,  and  learns  that 
he  does  not  suffer  from  competition  in  that  quarter. 
In  most  situations  the  individualistic  instincts  are 
strong  in  the  child,  and  are  the  only  instincts  on 
which  we  can  in  general  depend.  It  could  not  be 
otherwise,  for  these  instincts  bring  about  the  child's 
development.  Of  what  use  would  social  instincts  be 
before  the  child  has  any  capacity  to  help  others? 
The  individualistic  instincts,  together  with  the  adapt- 
ive, which  are  essentially  individualistic,  are  there- 
fore our  starting  point  in  education.  On  them  as  a 
basis  stand  the  higher  instincts  and  in  them  lies  the 
possibility  of  training.  They  doubtless  stand  back 
of  most  of  the  achievements  of  man.  If  competition, 
rivalry,  curiosity  and  self-interest  were  taken  out  of 
the  world,  there  might  be  little  left  in  the  way  of 
achievement,  and  it  would  probably  be  a  pretty  color- 
less, insipid  sort  of  world.  We  shall  now  examine  in 
some  detail  a  few  of  these  important  instincts. 

Fear. — The  instinctive  responses  to  fear  are  old 
and  fundamental,  and  although  we  now  have  little 
reason  for  fear,  still,  especially  in  the  child,  there 
exists  an  unreasonable  fear  that  will  not  down, — the 
survival  of  untold  ages  of  conflict  with  tooth  and 
claw  and  the  strange,  mysterious  forces  of  nature. 
The  instinct  appears  in  the  infant  very  early.  The 
babe  jumps  at  sudden  sounds  and  at  loud  sounds. 
There  is  early  a  fear  of  falling,  that  soon  passes  away. 
There  are  also  periods  in  early  childhood  when  the 
child  seems  to  be  fearless,  at  least  toward  many  as- 
pects of  nature,  and  later  comes  a  time  when  it  is 
fearful  of  nearly  everything,  i.  e.,  fear  shows  the 
phenomena  of  transiency  and  periodicity  mentioned 


THE   INDIVIDUALISTIC   INSTINCTS  51 

in  chapter  IV.  It  has  been  a  source  of  much  interest 
and  amusement  to  notice  these  periods  in  my  own 
children,  V  and  W.  While  W  was  three  and  four 
years  old  and  V  was  five  and  six,  the  older  boy  was 
much  afraid  of  worms,  snakes,  bugs,  etc.,  and  W 
showed  no  fear  toward  them.  V  would  therefore  get 
W  to  catch  these  animals  and  manipulate  them  for 
study.  Some  years  earlier  V  showed  as  little  fear 
as  did  W  at  this  time.  I  am  not  at  all  sure  about  the 
regularity  and  universality  of  this  phenomenon,  but 
of  the  general  fact  of  periodicity  in  the  development 
of  fear  there  seems  no  doubt.  A  young  child  will 
show  absolutely  no  fear  toward,  say,  a  toad,  but  a 
year  later,  without  in  the  meantime  having  any  un- 
favorable experience  with  toads,  perhaps  without 
even  seeing  one,  will  show  fear  toward  them.*  Ex- 
perience seems  to  have  much  to  do  with  determining 
what  shall,  call  forth  the  fear  response.  An  early 
unhappy  experience  with  a  dog,  for  example,  will 
make  it  difficult  or  impossible  for  the  person  later  to 
overcome  a  great  fear  of  dogs. 

It  is  a  question  whether  there  is  any  specific  object 
of  fear  as  a  matter  of  heredity.  It  would  seem  as  if 
reptiles,  fire,  water,  darkness  and  some  other  things 
excite  instinctive  responses,  but  we  can  not  be  sure. 
Since  there  is  little  reason  for  fear  in  modern  life, 
the  instinct  is  weak  in  many  adults,  but  there  are 
very  few  people  who  do  not  have  some  weak  spot, 
some  unreasonable,  and  often  inexplicable,  fear. 
However,  if  we  have  all  the  facts  in  a  person's  life, 
we  can  usually  explain  these  cases,  for  often  it  is  a 
matter  of  the  specialisation  of  stimulus.  Some  early, 

*Soe  James'  Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  II,  p.  417. 


52        THE  OUTLINES  OP   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

intense  experience  causes  the  same  stimulus  to  func- 
tion all  through  life  in  evoking  the  fear  response. 
An  early  unhappy  experience  with  a  fire  that  got  be- 
yond control  bids  fair  to  have  a  lasting,  unreasonable 
influence  on  one  of  my  own  children,  and  I  know  of 
several  similar  instances  of  permanent  fear  of  fire. 

The  manifestations  of  fear  are  many.  There  are 
changes  of  respiration,  of  the  rate  of  heart-beat  and 
circulation  and  various  outward  responses,  such  as 
running  away,  crying  out,  and  even  remaining  still, 
as  if  paralyzed. 

The  pedagogy  of  fear. — (1)  On  the  part  of  parents. 
My  own  experience  and  the  experience  of  hundreds 
of  my  students  whom  I  have  questioned  convince  me 
that  fear  is  an  important  factor  in  the  life  of  chil- 
dren. Ignorance  or  carelessness  on  the  part  of 
parents  may  cause  the  fixing  and  perpetuating  of 
some  instinctive  fear  that  often  causes  much  agony 
throughout  childhood  and  in  some  cases  throughout 
life.  To  illustrate,  when  I  was  a  very  young  boy  a 
horrible  story  of  a  sleeping  woman  being  awakened 
at  night  by  a  madman  who  had  been  asleep  under  the 
bed  was  read  to  me.  The  story  was  illustrated,  and 
for  years  the  image  of  that  picture,  showing  the  ter- 
rorised woman  and  the  madman,  functioned  at  night 
to  call  forth  a  blind,  instinctive  fear.  That  early 
experience, — the  result  of  the  thoughtlessness  of  an 
older  brother, — caused  me  more  agony  than  I  like  to 
think  of.  In  nearly  every  one  that  I  have  questioned 
there  is  recalled  some  early  experience  that  had  tre- 
mendous after-effects.  In  view  of  these  facts,  it 
seems  certain  that  parents  should  exercise  great 
care  concerning  the  early  experiences  of  their  chil- 


THE   INDIVIDUALISTIC   INSTINCTS  53 

dren.  Take,  for  example,  such  a  phenomenon  as  a 
thunder  storm.  If,  during  the  storm,  the  fears  of  the 
children  are  quieted,  if  parents  are  calm  and  uncon- 
cerned, children  will  acquire  an  attitude  of  indiffer- 
ence toward  these  phenomena  that  will  save  them 
much  terror  in  later  life. 

(2)  On  the  part  of  teachers.  In  the  history  of  edu- 
cation fear  has,  perhaps,  been  more  universally  ap- 
pealed to  as  a  motive  than  has  any  other  aspect  of 
child-nature.*  The  child  has  performed  his  tasks 
because  of  fear  of  pain  that  would  ensue  if  the  tasks 
were  not  performed.  Since  escaping  pain,  real  or 
imaginary,  has  always  been  at  the  bottom  of  fear,  the 
teacher  has,  therefore,  been  appealing  to  an  aspect 
of  human  nature  that  could  be  depended  upon  to 
function  at  least  as  long  as  the  danger  of  pain  was 
imminent.  But  true  to  its  nature  as  an  instinct,  when 
the  cause  of  fear  was  removed,  fear  disappeared,  and 
no  motive  for  study  remained.  In  these  days  teach- 
ers try  to  find  many  other  sources  of  motive  that  have 
a  wider  range  of  application  and  that  will  function 
at  all  times.  However,  it  may  be  that  we  can  still 
make  considerable  legitimate  use  of  this  old  and 
strong  aspect  of  human  nature  on  a  higher  plane 
than  that  of  mere  physical  pain.  It  may  be  very 
legitimate  for  a  child  to  work  because  of  fear  that 
he  will  break  a  previous  good  record,  or  that  he  may 
lose  the  good  will  of  teacher  or  parent.  Of  course, 
even  these  motives  should  not  be  the  main  reliance 
of  a  teacher,  but  they  are  legitimate.  It  is  even 
proper  for  fear  of  physical  pain  to  function  on  occa- 
sion. Nature  has  made  great  use  of  the  sense  of 

*See  Hall's  Youth,  p.  339. 


54       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

physical  pain  in  the  past,  and  it  is  by  no  means  cer- 
tain that  we  can  yet  afford  entirely  to  dispense 
with  it. 

Pugnacity  or  the  fighting  instinct. — If  a  teacher 
doubt  the  instinctive  nature  of  the  manifestations  of 
anger  or  fighting,  let  him  try  the  experiment  of  enter- 
ing into  a  harangue  —  in  apparent  seriousness  — 
against  the  character  of  Koosevelt  or  Bryan,  mean- 
time watching  the  faces  and  actions  of  his  students. 
Their  faces  flush,  their  teeth  set,  their  eyes  ' glare,' 
their  breathing  is  interrupted,  and  if  they  be  allowed 
to  reply  it  is  seen  that  they  have  lost  control  of  their 
voices ;  in  a  word,  it  is  quite  evident  that  a  number  of 
students  are  ready  to  fight  for  their  hero. 

The  responses  due  to  anger  lie  back  of  much  of  his- 
tory and  literature.  The  wrath  of  Achilles  gave  us 
the  Trojan  war  and  the  Iliad;  the  wrath  of  cruel  Juno 
gave  us  the  wanderings  of  Aeneas  and  the  Aeneid. 
In  later  authentic  history,  trouble  and  wars  unnum- 
bered have  come  because  of  unreasonable  anger 
wholly  of  an  instinctive  nature,  because  of  the  calling 
forth  of  the  savage,  prehuman,  blind  desire  to  fight. 
Even  now  as  this  page  is  being  written  the  good 
people  of  our  country  are  debating  the  question  of 
the  fortification  of  the  Panama  canal!  But  why 
mention  particular  cases,  when  every  schoolboy 
knows  that  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  are  taxing 
their  people  to  the  point  of  starvation  in  order  to  be 
ready  at  a  moment's  notice  for  mutual  destruction! 
So  strong  is  the  fighting  instinct  in  man  that  there 
are  few  individuals  who  are  not  ready  to  fight,  pro- 
vided that  their  neighbor  steps  on  their  particularly 
sensitive  corn, — perhaps  their  religion,  politics,  an- 


THE   INDIVIDUALISTIC   INSTINCTS  55 

cestors,  personal  failings,  their  children,  or  per- 
chance their  chickens. 

Causes  of  anger. — In  general,  anything  interfering 
with  one's  procedure,  one's  happiness,  evokes  the 
fighting  response.  Usually  we  have  some  particular 
"anger  zone,"  some  particularly  sensitive  spot,  as 
mentioned  above,  that  never  fails  to  arouse  the  tiger 
within  us.  These  zones  are  widely  different  in  differ- 
ent people.  I  have  several  times  taken  a  census  of 
my  classes  and  found  such  as  the  following:  seeing 
the  strong  impose  on  the  weak,  to  have  others  med- 
dle, thwarting  of  purpose,  maligning  of  friends,  see- 
ing a  person  persuading  another  to  do  wrong,  to  hear 
cursing,  to  have  one's  failures  mentioned,  seeing 
bright  red,  seeing  people  smoke,  seeing  affection  dis- 
played publicly,  to  see  disrespect,  to  see  others  mas- 
ticate, to  see  a  horse  mistreated,  cheating,  deceit,  etc. 
What  interferes  with  our  pursuits  and  our  happiness 
angers  us,  and  since  these  pursuits  are  different  for 
all  of  us,  different  things  call  forth  our  anger. 

Manifestations  of  anger.  —  Anger  in  children  is 
shown  by  such  phenomena  as  biting,  scratching, 
gnawing  the  teeth,  making  'faces,'  stamping,  swal- 
lowing, frothing  at  the  mouth,  butting  and  pound- 
ing with  the  head.  There  are  also  such  changes  in 
involuntary  movements  as  change  of  heart-beat  and 
breathing.  The  voice  roughens,  especially  in  older 
people.  Children  often  snarl  like  wild  animals  and 
show  their  teeth  and  bite  like  a  dog.  Whether  this  is 
a  matter  of  imitation  or  of  heredity  would  be  difficult 
to  say  without  further  study. 

Control  and  treatment.— Children  can  and  should 
be  taught  a  measurable  degree  of  control  of  at  least 


56       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

the  more  violent  outbursts  of  anger.  Hall  tells  us 
that  one  function  of  education  is  to  train  and  tutor 
the  savage  mind,  and  for  this  purpose  recommends 
plain  talks  and  spanking,  and,  as  prophylactics,  good 
health,  work  and  regularity.  Simple  methods  are — 
to  gain  control  of  the  voice,  drop  the  jaw,  relax  the 
muscles,  pause  and  reflect  and  give  inhibiting  ideas 
time  to  rise.  Different  people  have  adopted  various 
ingenious  means  of  working  off  the  surplus  energy 
usually  manifested  in  anger,  in  such  ways,  for  in- 
stance, as  sawing  wood,  playing  the  piano,  biting  the 
finger  nails,  chewing  a  toothpick  or  a  nail.  Much 
wisdom  is  needed  in  dealing  with  angry  children. 
Sometimes  they  should  be  neglected,  sometimes 
spanked,  and  should  be  allowed  to  suffer  the  conse- 
quences of  their  angry  acts  when  these  lead  to  the 
destruction  of  playthings  and  other  property.  How 
to  deal  with  fighting  among  boys  is  a  serious  prob- 
lem. Hall  thinks  that  physical  combats  in  certain 
periods  of  a  boy's  life  are  necessary  to  develop  man- 
liness and  self-respect,  but  this  is  very  doubtful.  It 
may  be  developing  a  good  deal  higher  type  of  man- 
hood for  a  child  to  learn  self-control  and  to  restrain 
his  savage  passions.  However,  in  the  present  diver- 
sity in  the  manner  of  bringing  up  children  it  would 
not  do  for  an  individual  parent  or  teacher  to  forbid 
fighting  absolutely.  But  if  there  were  a  general 
agreement  among  the  people  of  a  neighborhood  that 
the  children  should  not  fight,  it  is  very  doubtful  that 
any  lack  of  manliness  would  result  from  the  absence 
of  fighting.  At  present,  about  all  that  can  be  said  is 
that  teachers  and  parents  should  assume  the  attitude 
that  fighting  is  not  proper,  but  should  not  absolutely 


THE   INDIVIDUALISTIC   INSTINCTS  57 

prohibit  it,  and  then  deal  with  each  case  that  comes 
up,  on  its  merits.  Certainly,  in  our  modern  society  we 
do  not  consider  it  necessary  to  'smash'  our  neigh- 
bor's nose  (except  in  the  rarest  of  instances)  in  or- 
der to  maintain  our  honor.  We  consider  it  rather  a 
poor  kind  of  honor  that  has  to  be  maintained  in  that 
way.  Therefore,  unless  it  can  be  shown  to  be  essen- 
tial to  individual  development,  fighting  should  not  be 
fostered  in  children.  And  to  satisfy  the  purposes  of 
individual  development,  doubtless  the  instinct  can  be 
given  activity  in  some  direction  other  than  physical 
encounter.  It  will  be  a  bad  thing  for  civilisation  if 
the  fighting  spirit  ever  dies  out,  but  there  are  plenty 
of  means  for  its  development;  there  are  plenty  of 
things  in  our  modern  society  that  need  '  smashing' 
quite  as  much  as  our  neighbor's  nose,  and  that  re- 
quire a  good  deal  more  courage  in  the  operation. 
Therefore,  Hall  is  stating  a  more  important  truth 
when  he  says  that  we  should  teach  the  child  to  know 
the  things  that  should  arouse  his  righteous  indig- 
nation. 

Competition  in  the  school  room. — Competition  is 
based  on  the  fighting  instinct.  The  proper  use  to 
make  of  competition  in  the  teaching  process  is  a  seri- 
ous question,  but  there  are  certain  facts  that  can 
guide  us  in  its  solution.  There  can  be  no  question  of 
the  strength  of  the  incentive  of  competition,  but  the 
value  of  its  use  should  be  determined  by  comparing 
the  results  obtained  from  its  use  with  those  obtained 
by  using  other  incentives.  If  a  teacher  or  parent  can 
appeal  to  the  instinct  of  competition  without  injury 
to  the  disposition  or  character  of  the  children,  then 
its  use  is  legitimate.  But  there  are  certainly  serious 


58       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

dangers.  If  a  child  does  something  merely  to  beat 
someone  else,  then  it  means  that  he  is  happy  in  his 
own  success  and  his  neighbor's  failure.  Is  this  a 
trait  that  we  wish  to  develop  in  modern  society?  It 
certainly  is  not.  We  no  longer  believe  that  we  must 
succeed  at  the  expense  of  our  neighbor,  but  that  our 
mutual  success  is  best  for  both  of  us.  While  this  is 
true,  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  we  can  afford  to 
give  up  all  forms  of  competition.  If  an  instinct  so 
strong  and  so  universal  as  that  of  fighting  can  be 
utilised,  we  certainly  should  lay  hands  on  it,  pro- 
vided that  we  can  do  so  to  the  ultimate  good  of  the 
individual.  This  is  possible,  and  competition  can 
have  at  least  a  subsidiary  function  as  a  motive. 
Group  or  class  competition  can  often  well  be  used 
without  injury;  one  can  compete  with  one's  own  rec- 
ord, and  even  with  one's  fellows,  to  the  end  of  bring- 
ing forth  the  best  efforts  of  each,  as  is  done  in  sports, 
without  glorying  in  the  defeat  of  one's  fellows.  It 
sometimes  happens  that  to  be  beaten  by  a  fellow  will 
arouse  a  boy  or  girl  to  put  forth  the  best  that  is  in 
him  or  her  when  nothing  else  will,  and  at  the  same 
time  there  will  be  no  resentment  toward  the  victori- 
ous champion  that  put  them  on  their  mettle.  Much 
depends  on  the  wisdom  of  parents  and  teachers,  and 
those  with  tact  and  judgment  can  make  much  use  of 
competition  without  injury  and  without  making  it 
either  the  chief  means  or  the  end  of  education. 

The  only  individualistic  instincts  not  more  or  less 
closely  associated  with  fear  or  the  fighting  instincts 
are  those  connected  with  feeding.  The  latter  are  of 
no  great  educational  importance,  and  are  not  treated 
here. 


THE   INDIVIDUALISTIC   INSTINCTS  59 


QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOB  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  Make  out  a  complete  list  of  the  human  individualistic  in- 
stincts. 

2.  Give  incidents  from  your  own  experience  or  observation  to 
show  that  in  time  of  crises  individualistic  tendencies  are  likely  to 
prove  stronger  than  any  other.     Have  you  observed  any  excep- 
tions? 

3.  What  is  there  in  our  laws  relating  to  the  punishment  of 
murder  that  takes  account  of  the  strength  of  individualistic  In- 
stinctive tendencies? 

4.  Make  out  a  list  of  all  the  things  that  excite  fear  in  you. 
Which  of  these  fears  can  you  explain?    For  which  ones  have  jou 
no  explanation?    Can  you  trace  any  of  these  fears  to  the  actions 
of  your  parents?    How  many  of  your  fears  can  be  traced  to  an 
unhappy  early  experience? 

5.  Are  you  afraid  to  walk  alone  at  night  through  a  cemetery? 
What  is  the  basis  of  our  fear  of  the  supernatural?    Have  super- 
natural agencies  ever  injured  our  ancestors?     Did  a  ghost  ever 
hurt  anybody? 

6.  Make  a  study  of  the  fears  of  children  and  see  if  you  can 
verify  the  statement  of  the  text  in  regard  to  the  pedagogy  of  fear. 

7.  Have  you  outgrown  any  fears  of  childhood?    How  could  a 
person  be  cured  of  some  unreasonable  fear? 

8.  Are  all  children,  regardless  of  their  treatment,  at  some  time 
afraid  of  the  dark  ?    Does  it  do  any  good  to  explain  to  a  child  that 
there  is  nothing  to  be  afraid  of? 

9.  Explain  the  fear  of  engines,  automobiles  and  other  things 
that  were  not  common  to  our  ancestors. 

10.  Compare  the  necessities  of  fear  at  the  present  time  with 
the  necessities  of  fear  in  the  primitive  life  of  man. 

11.  Write  an  account  of  the  fights  of  your  childhood,  stating 
their  causes  and  their  results.    Do  you  consider  the  results  beneficial 
to  you? 

12.  Can  a  child's  'will'  be  completely  subdued?    Is  such  a  result 
desirable? 

13.  Is  it  better  for  a  child  to  have  too  much  or  too  little  regard 
for  and  confidence  in  himself? 

14.  Compare  the  control  exercised  over  the  individualistic  in- 
stincts by  the  untutored  savage  and  by  a  high  type  of  civilized 
man.     On  the  other  hand,  cite  the  acts  of  an  American  mob  that 
are  on  a  par  with  those  of  the  primitive  savage. 

15.  Did  you  ever  want  to  kill  anybody?    Did  you  ever  plan  to 
do  so? 

16.  Why   are    most    individualistic   instincts   considered    bad? 
Show  that  they  were  fortunate  possessions  under  primitive  condi- 
tions. 

17.  Would  you  prophesy  a  happy  or  an  unhappy  future  for  a  boy 
of  seven  who  is  distinguished  because  of  his  tendency  to  resent  any 
trespassing  upon  what  he  fancies  are  his  rights?    Contrast  with 


60       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

this  type  the  one  that  rarely  offers  opposition  to  the  aggression  of 
playmates  or  others.  (O'Shea.) 

18.  Are  the  boys  that  make  the  highest  marks  in  school  the  best 
fighters  on  the  playground? 

Iv9.  Under  our  modern  social  conditions,  does  the  person  that  is 
always  fighting  accomplish  the  most?  Compare  Presidents  of  the 
United  States  in  this  regard. 

20.  As  you  look  upon  it  now,  what  was  the  effect  of  competition 
on  your  life  in  childhood? 

21.  Indicate  the  legitimate  and  illegitimate  uses  of  competition 
in  school  work.    Is  it  a  good  thing  for  people  to  meet  failure  and  be 
defeated  occasionally?    Can  you  recall  instances  in  your  own  life 
when  failure  did  you  good? 

22.  A  boy  can  run  faster  in  a  race  than  when  running  alone. 
Is  a  like  thing  true  when  applied  to  his  studies? 

23.  Point  out  instances  showing  the  bad  effects  of  uncondition- 
ally forbidding  fighting.    See  H.  D.  Marsh,  Point  of  View  of  Modern 
Education,  1905,  p.  70,  for  an  example. 

24.  Give  your  experience  with  group  competition.    Can  you  cite 
instances  to  show  that  friendly  rivalry  with  good  feeling  is  possible 
and  good? 

EEFERENCES. 

On  Fear — E.  A.  Kirkpatrick,  Fundamentals  of  Child  Study,  Ch. 
vi,  p.  99 ;  G.  Stanley  Hall,  in  American  Journal  of  Psychology,  Vol. 
viii,  p.  147 ;  E.  Barnes,  Studies  in  Education,  Vol.  i,  p.  18 ;  H.  M. 
Stanley,  Psychological  Review,  Vol.  i,  p.  241 ;  American  Journal  of 
Psychology,  Vol.  ix,  p.  418;  M.  W.  Calkins,  Pedagogical  Seminary, 
Vol.  iii,  p.  319 ;  W.  Preyer,  The  Senses  and  the  Will,  1895,  p.  164 ; 
J.  Sully,  Studies  in  Childhood,  1895,  Ch.  vi. 

Adolescence,  Vol.  i,  p.  451 ;  Vol.  ii,  p.  370 ;  B.  Perez,  First  Three 
Years  of  Childhood,  1892,  p.  62 ;  A.  E.  Tanner,  The  Child,  1904,  p. 
219. 

On  Anger  and  the  Fighting  Instinct — G.  Stanley  Hall,  Am.  Jr. 
Psych.,  Vol.  x,  p.  516 ;  Adolescence,  Vol.  i,  pp.  220  and  354 ;  Vol.  ii, 
p.  367 ;  Educational  Problems,  p.  251 ;  B.  Perez,  First  Three  Years 
of  Childhood,  1892,  p.  66;  M.  V.  O'Shea,  Social  Development  and 
Education,  Chs.  vii  and  viii ;  F.  L.  Burk,  Teasing  and  Bullying,  in 
Pedagogical  Seminary,  Vol.  iv,  p.  336;  A.  E.  Tanner,  The  Child, 
1904,  p.  216 ;  G.  Ordahl,  Rivalry,  its  Genetic  Development  and  Peda- 
gogy, in  Ped.  8em.,  Vol.  xv,  p.  492. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  SOCIAL  INSTINCTS. 

The  chief  social  instincts  are  gregariousness  or  the 
gang  instinct,  responses  connected  with  the  emotion 
of  sympathy,  including  altruistic  responses  and  sim- 
ple forms  of  co-operation,  and  certain  responses  of 
instinctive  nature  that  are  connected  with  the  love  of 
approbation. 

Gregariousness  or  the  gang  instinct.  —  Children 
naturally  desire  to  be  with  other  children.  It  makes 
no  difference  how  well  occupied  or  how  contented  a 
boy  may  be;  the  sight  of  another  boy  or  group  of 
boys  is  quite  enough  to  disturb  his  peace  of  mind. 
He  immediately  prefers  to  join  the  other  boys  and 
play  with  them.  Parents  are  sometimes  shocked 
when  they  first  discover  that  they  are  not  all-suffi- 
cient for  their  children,  that  their  children  prefer 
children  rather  than  their  own  parents  as  playmates. 
There  seems  no  question  that  children,  if  free  from 
adult  interference,  are  responding  to  a  natural  de- 
sire and  perhaps  to  a  natural  necessity  when  they 
come  together  to  play.  Although  the  individualistic 
instincts  are  so  strong  that  in  the  early  years  of 
childhood  play  is  seldom  harmonious  for  long  at  a 
time,  nevertheless  the  gang  instinct  is  at  work  and 
gradually  gains  the  ascendency  over  the  individual- 
istic tendencies,  the  latter  to  some  extent  becoming 
subordinate  to  the  former.  The  trouble  that  children 

[61] 


62        THE  OUTLINES  OP   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

of  the  present  day  have  in  getting  along  together  is, 
perhaps,  in  large  measure  due  to  parental  interfer- 
ence and  meddling.  If  the  children  were  allowed  to 
settle  their  own  matters  in  their  own  way,  they  would 
doubtless  get  along  much  better  than  they  do.  A  cer- 
tain form  of  stability  and  equilibrium  would  be  estab- 
lished and  maintained.  Moreover,  the  fights  that 
primitive  children  engaged  in  were  doubtless  fitting 
preparations  for  the  life  that  they  were  to  live. 

As  far  as  we  have  any  direct  knowledge,  consider- 
able association  with  other  children  seems  to  be  nec- 
essary for  the  normal  development  of  a  child.  How- 
ever, it  is  well  toward  adolescence  before  the  tenden- 
cies that  lead  to  co-operation  are  strong  enough  to 
enable  children  to  sink  their  individuality  and  work 
for  the  good  of  the  group, — club,  gang,  school,  team, 
class,  or  whatever  the  social  group  may  be.  Children 
often  form  clubs,  doubtless  in  imitation  of  those  of 
older  children,  before  the  social  tendencies  are  suffi- 
ciently strong  to  hold  them  together.  The  result  is 
usually  not  a  happy  one ;  the  children  quarrel  and  get 
along  badly  because  they  can  not  put  the  interests  of 
the  group  above  their  own  desires.  Just  before 
adolescence,  however,  the  tendencies  underlying  the 
gang  instinct  are  strong  enough  to  enable  a  club  to 
hold  together  for  a  season.  The  clubs  and  gangs 
that  are  formed  in  later  childhood  and  youth  as  a 
result  of  these  tendencies,  and  from  other  causes  dis- 
cussed in  a  later  paragraph,  furnish  one  of  the  im- 
portant problems  to  the  teachers  of  our  towns  and 
cities,  and  to  some  extent  to  those  of  the  rural 
schools  as  well. 


THE   SOCIAL  INSTINCTS  63 

Chums. — Chumming  is,  perhaps,  a  specialised  ex- 
pression of  the  gang  instinct,  and  deserves  separate 
consideration.  Investigation  reveals  the  fact  that 
most  children  at  some  time  or  other  have  chums.  In 
chumming,  each  child  suffices  for  the  other,  often  to 
the  entire  exclusion  of  other  children.  It  is  a  com- 
mon thing  in  the  school  room  to  see  two  children  who 
wish  to  be  constantly  together;  when  play-time 
comes,  they  seek  each  other's  company  and  care  not 
for  the  society  of  other  children.  This  is  not  best  for 
young  children,  as  we  shall  see  when  we  come  to 
study  the  instinct  of  imitation.  Whatever  be  the 
merits  of  any  child,  they  are  not  sufficient  to  consti- 
tute a  social  environment  large  enough  for  any  other 
child.  The  effect  of  chumming  on  young  children 
can  not  be  other  than  narrowing  and  leads  to  exclu- 
siveness  and  snobbishness.  Sometimes  the  stronger 
child  dominates  the  weaker  one,  leading  him  into  mis- 
chief. Among  older  children,  chumming  often  causes 
neglect  of  duties  and  thoughtlessness  toward  oth- 
ers. Chums  care  not  for  the  rest  of  the  world,  for 
they  are  self-sufficing,  as  they  think,  but  in  the  end 
this  certainly  can  not  be  so,  at  least  for  young  chil- 
dren. There  are,  nevertheless,  certain  good  things 
that  come  from  having  a  close  chum.  Among  the 
good  influences  that  have  been  mentioned  by  my  stu- 
dents as  a  result  of  their  chum  experience  are  the  fol- 
lowing: (1)  the  gaining  of  higher  ideals  from  a 
chum;  (2)  one  person  supplements  the  character  of 
another;  (3)  as  a  result  of  the  supplementing  of 
character,  one  chum  acts  as  a  check  on  the  other; 
(4)  teaches  unselfishness;  (5)  broadens  by  teaching 
the  value  of  friendship;  (6)  chum  stimulates  to  ef- 


64       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

fort.  Doubtless  much  depends  on  the  temperament, 
character  and  age  of  the  people  concerned.  It  may 
very  well  be  that  in  later  youth  the  experience  may 
be  very  beneficial  to  both  concerned.  A  strong  child 
may  be  of  great  help  to  a  weaker  and  get  as  much 
help  himself  by  virtue  of  helping  his  friends.  In 
later  adolescence,  after  character  is  pretty  well 
formed,  strong  and  close  friendships  are  doubtless 
valuable.  To  have  a  friend  that  one  is  willing  to  fight 
for,  and,  if  necessary,  die  for,  puts  new  meaning  into 
life  and  makes  it  worth  living.  Then,  in  summary, 
children  should  not  have  their  association  narrowed 
to  any  one  child,  but  in  later  adolescence,  when  char- 
acter begins  to  crystallise,  much  good  may  come  from 
close  associations,  but  even  then  the  rest  of  the  world 
must  not  be  shut  out. 

Gangs  and  clubs. — Boys'  clubs,  their  dangers  and 
possibilities,  assume  a  large  importance  at  the  pres- 
ent time.  Eiis,  Forbush  and  Jane  Addams  have 
made  us  familiar  with  these  problems.  A  census 
taken  by  the  author  of  about  100  students  in  a  certain 
class  revealed  the  fact  that  most  of  them  had  been 
members  of  a  club.  These  students  were  asked  to 
give  the  effects,  bad  and  good,that  come  from  belong- 
ing to  these  clubs  and  gangs.  The  good  points  men- 
tioned were:  (1)  social  training;  (2)  literary  train- 
ing; (3)  skill  in  sewing,  painting,  etc.;  (4)  gives  an 
understanding  of  human  nature;  (5)  gives  high 
ideals;  (6)  good  effects  from  being  kept  out-of- 
doors;  (7)  friendships  formed;  (8)  sympathies 
broadened;  (9)  leadership  and  self-reliance  taught 
by  the  club  or  gang.  The  bad  effects  mentioned  were 
such  as  the  following:  (1)  narrowing;  (2)  make 


THE   SOCIAL  INSTINCTS  65 

members  snobbish;  (3)  make  members  clannish;  (4) 
teach  bad  code  of  ethics;  (5)  teach  law-breaking;  (6) 
lead  to  quarreling  and  make  enemies.  Many  of  these, 
bad  as  well  as  good,  were  due  to  the  special  object  or 
nature  of  the  particular  club. 

The  gang  instinct  is  strong,  and  it  is  evident  that  if 
it  could  be  allowed  to  manifest  itself,  with  the  evil 
influences  lopped  off,  a  great  gain  would  thereby  be 
effected  for  education.  And  a  study  of  the  bad  influ- 
ences leads  to  the  conclusion  that  they  may,  in  part 
at  least,  be  avoided.  At  a  certain  age  the  formation 
of  clubs  and  gangs  seems  to  be  a  very  natural  thing 
for  boys  and  girls  to  do,  and  this  natural  tendency 
ought  to  be  taken  advantage  of  if  possible  in  the  in- 
terest of  education.  It  should  be  made  to  help  in  the 
education  of  youth,  instead  of  allowed  to  be  a  hin- 
drance. This,  of  course,  may  be  said  in  regard  to  all 
natural  tendencies, — they  must  be  utilised  in  the 
scheme  of  education,  if  it  is  at  all  possible.  When 
this  is  not  possible,  and  we  are  sure  that  the  educa- 
tion itself  is  not  wrong,  then  the  tendency  should  in 
most  cases  be  killed,  allowed  to  die  for  want  of  exer- 
cise. 

The  spirit  of  the  club  should  be  spontaneous,  but 
older  people  can  direct  the  purpose  of  the  club  and 
the  gang  instinct  can  be  aligned  with  other  instincts, 
particularly  with  the  play,  the  collecting  and  the 
migratory  instincts.  Young  people  do  not  resent  the 
interference  of  elders  if  the  elders,  are  in  sympathy 
with  youth.  Every  club  can  have  its  adviser  and  its 
whole  influence  can  be  directed  toward  good  and  the 
natural  development  of  the  members.  But  great  tact 
and  good  judgment  are  needed  on  the  part  of  those 


66       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

who  would  advise  or  direct  boys'  clubs.  Boys  are 
active  and  need  to  lead  a  vigorous,  athletic,  out-of- 
door  life.  They  do  not  care  to  belong  to  a  club  for 
the  suppression  of  noise  or  for  the  establishment  of 
a  New  England  Sabbath,  or  even  for  the  study  of 
Shakespeare.  Nor  do  they  wish  as  advisers  weak 
women  or  'sissy'  men.  Boys  are  boys  and  must  lead 
a  boy's  life;  the  more  vigorous,  the  better  for  the 
boy.  They  are  naturally  suspicious  of  the  kind  old 
deacon  who  wishes  to  "do  them  good."  He  usually 
wishes  to  make  old  men  out  of  them  seventy  years  too 
early.  The  kind  of  club  that  they  prefer  is  such  that 
calls  into  activity  the  deepest,  strongest  forces  of 
their  nature, — fishing  club,  hunting  club,  camping 
club,  athletic  club,  naturalist's  club,  all  of  which  pro- 
vide for  great  activity,  and  which  usually  take  them 
out-of-doors  and  give  opportunity  for  an  active  life. 
And  he  who  would  be  an  adviser  of  boys  must  be  a 
boy  himself.  He  may  be  seventy  years  old,  but  the 
spirit  of  youth  must  be  in  him. 

Why  gangs  are  formed. — In  our  large  cities  gangs 
are  numerous,  almost  one  to  every  block.  The  reason 
for  this  unusual  manifestation  of  the  gang  spirit  is 
pretty  clear.  The  gang,  in  its  present  form,  is  one 
of  the  products  of  our  modern  society,  the  outgrowth 
of  modern  social  development.  Under  more  primi- 
tive conditions,  the  child's  natural  desire  for  social 
activity  was  well  provided  for  in  the  ordinary  work 
and  play  with  brothers  and  sisters  and  also  with 
neighbors.  The  modern  city  child  has  no  work  and 
not  the  right  kind  of  play, — free,  outdoor  romping 
and  running,  chasing,  and  exploring  wood  and 
stream.  That  the  modern  school  does  not  fully  pro- 


THE  SOCIAL  INSTINCTS  67 

vide  for  the  social  instincts  shows  that  it  is  not  en- 
tirely the  right  kind  of  school.  The  school  room  has 
been  a  sort  of  jail,  where  children,  although  phys- 
ically in  proximity,  were  socially  isolated.  Mutual 
help  and  free  intercourse  among  the  children — the 
perfectly  natural  thing — have  for  the  most  part  been 
forbidden.  Although  the  development  of  the  social 
instincts  is  one  of  the  greatest  possibilities  of  the 
school,  this  one  thing  it  has  largely  failed  to  do,  and, 
instead,  has  turned  their  training  over  to  the  streets. 
The  possibilities  of  organising  the  school  as  a  club 
to  provide  properly  for  the  social  needs  of  the  chil- 
dren have  hardly  been  dreamed  of.  A  number  of 
children  forming  a  room  or  grade  should  be  a  unit 
for  doing  all  the  things  that  the  children  ought  to  do. 
Now  it  should  be  a  nature  study  club  for  the  finding 
out  of  all  the  wonders  of  the  wide  out-of-doors,  now 
a  debating  club,  now  an  athletic  club,  now  a  picnic 
club,  and  so  on.  In  a  word,  the  school  should  supply 
all  the  needs  of  the  child,  at  least  all  those  not  sup- 
plied by  the  home.  In  the  school  the  child  should  find 
full  scope  for  all  activities.  The  traditional  school 
can  not  do  this.  Its  scope  and  function  and  form  of 
procedure  must  be  greatly  enlarged.  It  is  a  great 
mistake  to  make  the  school  stationary.  The  world 
can  not  be  brought  into  a  school  room,  neither  can 
child-development  best  go  on  there.  The  school 
should  be  a  social  unit,  but  should  do  its  work  wher- 
ever that  work  can  best  be  done.  If  a  part  of  the 
world  can  not  be  brought  into  the  school  room,  then 
the  child  should  be  taken  to  it.  As  a  nature  study 
club,  the  school  should  explore  the  natural  environ- 
ment, and  as  a  civic  club  it  should  study  the  civic  and 


68       THE   OUTLINES   OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

social  environment.  This  does  not  mean  that  the 
school  should  be  called  a  club  for  this  or  that,  but 
that  it  should  perform  these  social  functions.  The 
education  of  the  child  should  be  controlled  by  the 
school  and  the  home.  The  movements  outside  of 
school  to  organise  children  are  dangerous.  The 
whole  training  and  education  of  the  child  should  be 
unified  and  under  the  control  of  professional  teach- 
ers scientifically  trained  for  their  work.  If  there  is 
a  part  of  child-nature  that  the  school  and  home  are 
not  taking  care  of,  then  they  must  enlarge  their 
sphere.  And  it  is  the  contention  here  that  the  school 
organisation  should  provide  for  all  the  social  needs 
of  the  children  that  are  not  taken  care  of  by  the  home. 
Another  reason  for  the  modern  street  gang  is  the 
disappearance  of  home-life.  The  child  in  the  rural 
community  that  has  plenty  of  work  and  play  at  home 
with  brothers  and  sisters  and  parents  has  most  of 
the  needs  of  his  nature  satisfied.  The  city  child,  as 
already  mentioned,  has  no  work  and  no  proper  play. 
He  can  not  work  alongside  of  his  parents,  for  they 
are  away  from  home  at  the  factory;  therefore  the 
child  must  go  to  the  street  and  join  the  gang  when 
he  is  not  in  an  unsocial  school  room  vigilantly 
watched  by  a  teacher  whom  he  too  often  considers  a 
taskmaster  and  an  enemy.  We  are  aware  that  these 
conditions  are  not  universal  and  are  far  from  be- 
lieving that  they  are  necessary.  The  school  can  be 
so  organised  as  to  make  other  forms  of  organisation 
both  unnecessary  and  impossible.  To  this  end,  parks 
and  playgrounds  can  be  much  extended  and  the  na- 
ture and  function  of  the  school  much  changed.  And 
a  thing  very  much  to  be  desired  is  the  revival  of 


THE   SOCIAL   INSTINCTS  69 

home-life.  The  modern  parent  does  not  live  with  his 
children  nearly  as  much  as  he  should  and  can.  The 
family  fireside  must  be  revived,  although  around  the 
radiator.  Parents  must  live  much  more  with  their 
children  and  enter  much  more  into  their  activities. 
This  will  solve  a  large  part  of  the  difficulty  and  ren- 
der the  necessity  of  the  gang  not  nearly  so  great. 
For  the  gang  is  not  solely  a  manifestation  of  the 
gang  instinct,  but  a  means  of  providing  for  a  number 
of  activities  and  interests  not  properly  provided  for. 
If  the  home  and  school  provide  for  these  needs,  the 
street  gang  will  not  be  a  necessity  for  the  child.  The 
worst  influences  of  the  gang  are  seen  in  the  largest 
cities,  where  so  many  aspects  of  the  child's  life  are 
neglected  and  where  family  life  has  suffered  most 
decay. 

High  school  fraternities. — Probably  worse  than  the 
gang  of  the  city  street  is  the  high  school  fraternity, 
opposing  the  best  interests  of  the  school  and  of 
democracy  itself,  and  by  imitating  the  social  activi- 
ties of  adults,  ripening  the  sexual  instincts  prema- 
turely, and  forming  habits  of  dissipation,  snobbish- 
ness, extravagance  and  idleness.  But  that  within 
the  school  itself  an  organisation  should  be  formed  to 
provide  for  the  socialistic  instincts  is  the  very  best 
proof  that  the  school  is  not  fulfilling  its  function 
in  this  respect,  although  it  must  be  recognised  that 
many  influences  are  at  work  to  produce  the  school 
fraternity.  The  boy  who  must  hurry  home  from 
school  to  use  the  bucksaw,  shovel,  ax  or  hoe,  and  who 
spends  the  evening  around  the  family  fireside  read- 
ing and  talking  with  parents  and  brothers  and  sis- 
ters, is  receiving  a  much  better  training  for  citizen- 


70       THE   OUTLINES   OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

ship  and  manhood  than  the  city  boy  who  belongs  to 
a  fraternity  and  spends  much  of  his  time  outside  of 
the  school  and  family.  A  boy's  best  club  should  be 
the  family  circle  and  his  best  chum  should  be  his 
father;  even  the  school  should  be  secondary  and 
supplementary. 

Sympathy  and  co-operation. — If  the  modern  school 
should  make  greater  demands  upon  the  instinctive 
tendencies  connected  with  the  emotion  of  sympathy, 
with  co-operation  and  altruism,  and  somewhat  less 
upon  the  individualistic  instincts,  it  would  strengthen 
these  late  and  weak  tendencies  and  be  better  for  our 
modern  society.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  school 
should  not  be  a  training  in  social  service  and  co- 
operation. The  idea  should  be  to  bring  out  the  best 
in  each  individual  for  the  good  of  the  whole,  and  each 
child  should  learn  to  do  what  he  can  do  best.  The 
children  in  school,  therefore,  should  act  much  as  do 
children  in  the  home,  mutually  helping  one  another, 
and  should  early  learn  that  the  welfare  of  each  is 
dependent  upon  the  welfare  of  the  whole,  while  the 
welfare  of  the  group  depends  upon  each  one's  doing 
his  best.  Children  can  not  be  prepared  for  social  and 
civic  duties  without  conscious  and  directed  training. 
These  facts  do  not  mean  that  the  formal  aspect  of  a 
club  is  necessary,  nor  do  they  mean  that  a  school  is 
to  be  transformed  into  a  mob,  or  into  a  George 
Junior  or  Senior  Eepublic,  or  any  other  of  the 
numerous  fads  proposed  every  day.  The  school 
must  always  be  much  of  a  monarchy,  just  as  the 
home  should  also  be,  but  a  monarchy  whose  ruler  is 
wise  and  benevolent  and  who  rules  only  because  the 
subjects  are  not  wise  enough  to  rule  themselves,  and 


THE    SOCIAL    INSTINCTS  71 

whose  rule  is  the  best  sort  of  preparation  for  self- 
government. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOB,  FUBTHER  STUDY. 

1.  Write  up  the  history  of  your  own  experience  with  chums  and 
point  out  the  effects,  good  and  bad. 

2.  Study  the  members  of  some  family  with  the  purpose  of  deter- 
mining whether  there  is  any  difference  in  the  degree  of  social- 
isation, comparing  the  older  with  the  younger.     In  a  similar  way 
make  a  study  of  as  many  children  as  possible  that  are  only  chil- 
dren,  and  determine  whether  there  is   any   uniformity  in   their 
variation  from  the  average  child  that  is  reared  in  a  larger  family. 
A  good  procedure  would  be  to  determine  the  characteristics  of  50 
only  children,  then  determine  the  characteristics  of  50  children, 
chosen  at  random,  that  are  members  of  larger  families. 

3.  If  the  parents  are  careful  and  wise,  and  the  only  child  has 
plenty  of  playmates,  can  it  become  as  well  socialised  as  the  child 
of  a  larger  family? 

4.  If  the  first  part  of  one's  life  is  largely  spent  in  solitude,  are 
the  social  instincts  likely  to  be  much  developed?    Do  you  know  of 
such  a  case? 

5.  What  part  does  imitation  of  elders  play  in  the  formation  of 
clubs  and  gangs  by  young  people? 

6.  Do  you  know  anyone  who  is  individualistic  and  solitary  in 
his  habits?    If  you  know  of  such  a  case,  can  you  explain  it?    Can 
you  cite  the  case  of  a  child  whose  selfish  nature  is  being  allowed 
to  develop  at  the  expense  of  the  social  nature? 

7.  In  a  family  of  several  children,  do  you  think  that  either  child 
has  any  advantage  as  far  as  the  development  of  the  social  instincts 
is  concerned?    Make  careful  observations  with  this  point  in  mind. 

8.  Make  a  study  of  pupil  self-government  to  see  if  it  fosters  the 
development  of  the  social  nature.    Read  a  description  of  the  meth- 
ods used  in  the  George  Junior  Republic.     (See  the  references.) 

9.  Would  it  be  well  for  children  to  have  perfect  liberty  to  help 
one  another  in  the  schoolroom? 

10.  Do  twins  make  good  chums  for  each  other,  or  are  they  too 
much  alike? 

11.  Are  country  children  as  likely  to  form  gangs  and  clubs  as 
are  city  children? 

12.  If  plenty  of  social  activity  is  provided,  do  we  still  have  the 
club  and  gang? 

13.  How  can  parents  prevent  the  necessity  of  clubs  and  gangs? 

14.  How  should  a  teacher  deal  with  a  spoilt  child — one  that  is 
selfish  and  has  not  been  properly  socialised? 

15.  In  the  process  of  socialisation,  by  measuring  himself  up  with 
his  fellows,  a  person  may  discover  that  he  is  inferior  in  some  re- 
spects.   Is  this  discovery  a  good  thing  for  him? 


72       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

16.  Would  many  parks  in  a  city  help  to  lessen  the  evil  effects 
of  gangs? 

17.  In  what  way  can  education  properly  utilize  the  gang  instinct? 

18.  Make  a  study  of  some  cases  of  chumming  and  close  friend- 
ships and  try  to  determine  the  cause  of  the  mutual  attraction. 
What  is  the  basis  of  your  attraction  to  your  best  friends? 

19.  Show  the  necessity  of  co-operation  and  sympathy  in  mod- 
ern social  life. 

20.  Show  that,  from  the  point  of  view  taken  in  the  first  chapter, 
a  part  of  the  function  of  the  school  is  the  proper  socialisation  of 
the  pupils.    Show  how  the  school  does  this  work ;  how  it  could  do 
it  better. 

21.  Show  what  a  great  character  in  a  community  is  the  man 
or  woman  who  shows  the  most  earnest  and  real  co-operation  and 
sympathy.    Note  that  there  are  always  characters  that  assume  such 
a  r61e,  but  do  not  possess  the  virtue. 

22.  Are  chums  likely  to  sink  to  the  lowest  that  is  in  them,  or 
rise  to  the  best?    What  can  you  say  about  gangs  in  this  respect? 

23.  Show   that  Dewey's   scheme   of  education   as   outlined   in 
School  and  Society  takes  proper  account  of  social  instincts.    Have 
you  any  criticism  of  the  scheme? 

24.  Enumerate  all  the  changes  in  the  schools  necessary  to  make 
them  take  proper  account  of  the  socialistic  instincts. 

25.  Try  to  discover  the  rules  of  boys'  gangs.     Does  your  study 
throw  any  light  on  the  nature  of  boys  and  their  proper  training? 

26.  Indicate  various  attempts  of  the  present  time  to  organize 
young  people.    Show  that  all  this  work  is  properly  the  work  of  the 
school. 

27.  If  you  are,  or  ever  have  been,  a  member  of  a  fraternity, 
enumerate  its  benefits  and  disadvantages.    Is  it  possible  to  remove 
the  disadvantages,  or  are  they  inherent  in  the  nature  of  a  frater- 
nity?   Is  the  same  thing  true  of  both  the  high  school  and  univer- 
sity fraternities? 

REFERENCES. 

The  gregarious  instinct,  clubs,  gangs,  etc.,  E.  A.  Kirkpatrick, 
Fundamentals  of  Child  Study,  p.  118 ;  G.  S.  Hall,  Adolescence,  Vol. 
ii,  Ch.  xv ;  also  in  Youth,  p.  207 ;  also,  Some  Social  Aspects  of  Edu- 
cation, in  Pedagogical  Seminary,  Vol.  ix,  p.  81 ;  H.  D.  Sheldon, 
Am.  Jour.  Psych.,  Vol.  ix,  425;  W.  B.  Forbush,  Pedagogical  Semi- 
nary, Vol.  vii,  p.  307 ;  also  Vol.  xvi,  p.  337 ;  also  The  Boy  Problem, 
1901,  Chs.  ii  and  iii ;  W.  Buck,  Boys'  Self-Governing  Clubs,  1903 ; 
J.  A.  Riis,  The  Children  of  the  Poor,  1892,  Ch.  xiii;  also  on  The 
Genesis  of  the  Gang,  A  Ten  Years'  War,  1900,  Ch.  v,  and  Battle 
with  the  Slum,  1902,  Ch.  ix ;  Jane  Addams,  The  Spirit  of  Youth 
and  the  City  Streets,  1909;  also  Democracy  and  Social  Ethics, 
1907 ;  M.  V.  O'Shea,  Social  Development  and  Education,  1909,  Chs. 
xi  and  xiii;  J.  Dewey,  The  School  and  Society,  1900,  gives  some 
idea  of  what  a  socialized  education  would  be  like;  on  the  George 
Junior  Republic  see  George  Junior  Republic,  Nothing  Without 


THE   SOCIAL  INSTINCTS  73 

Labor,  1910 ;  W.  R.  George,  The  Junior  Republic,  1910 ;  also  J.  E. 
Gunckel,  Boyville,  1905,  shows  what  adult  direction  can  accom- 
plish with  the  boys  of  the  city ;  J.  W.  L.  Jones,  Sociality  and  Sym- 
pathy, Psych.  Rev.  Mon.  Sup.,  Vol.  v,  No.  1. 

On  Chums,  see  F.  G.  Bonser,  Fed.  Sem.,  Vol.  ix,  221. 

On  the  Only  Child  in  a  Family,  see  Bohannon,  Fed.  Sem.,  Vol. 
v,  p.  475. 

The  parental  and  sexual  instincts  are  not  treated  in  this  book, 
but  the  subject  is  of  great  importance  to  the  teacher.  The  following 
references  will  be  found  helpful :  P.  Geddes  and  J.  A.  Thompson, 
The  Evolution  of  Sex,  1890 ;  C.  R.  Henderson,  Education  with 
Reference  to  Sex,  1909 ;  M.  B.  Williams,  Sex  Problems,  1910 ;  G.  S. 
Hall,  Adolescence,  Vol.  ii,  Ch.  xi;  also  Educational  Problems,  Vol. 
i,  Ch.  vii,  and  Vol.  ii,  Ch.  ix. 


CHAPTEB   VTL 
THE   ENVIRONMENTAL  INSTINCTS. 

THE  MIGEATOEY  INSTINCT. 

The  migrations  of  lower  animals. — The  migrations 
of  seals  will  well  illustrate  tliis  instinct.  At  a  certain 
season  of  the  year  the  seals  leave  the  Alaskan  islands 
and  go  southward  in  the  Pacific  ocean  for  hundreds 
and  even  thousands  of  miles.  They  stay  south  dur- 
ing the  fall  and  winter,  and  return  in  the  spring  to 
the  northern  islands  to  breed.  The  dates  of  their 
return  to  the  breeding  islands  show  remarkable  reg- 
ularity. Changes  in  the  environment — the  seasonal 
changes — and  changes  in  the  seal's  body  itself  serve 
as  the  stimulii  to  start  it  off  on  its  long  journey. 
Back  and  forth  it  goes,  year  after  year,  with  clock- 
like  regularity.  The  past  life  and  experience  of  the 
seal  has  left  its  body  with  such  an  inherited  neuro- 
muscular  structure,  —  with  co-ordinations  ready 
formed, — that  the  conditions  of  its  existence  send  it 
forth  on  its  annual  circuit  to  the  south  to  feed,  and 
back  again  to  the  northern  islands  to  breed.  No  less 
interesting  is  the  case  of  the  salmon.  At  a  certain 
season  of  the  year  the  Columbia  river  is  literally 
alive  with  these  fish.  With  head  turned  up-stream, 
irresistibly  and  with  the  blind  determination  of  fatal- 
ism, they  make  their  way  to  the  gravel  and  sand  of 
the  head-waters  of  the  Columbia  to  spawn.  Not  a 

[74] 


THE   ENVIRONMENTAL   INSTINCTS  75 

bite  of  food  do  they  take,  but  steadily  go  on,  leaping 
the  falls  and  rapids,  till  they  reach  the   shallow 
waters,  their  bodies  being  much  the  worse  for  wear. 
After  reaching  this  destination,  they  deposit  their 
eggs,  and  drift  down  stream,  tail  first,  to  die.    The 
young  hatch  and  slowly  make  their  way  down  stream 
to  the  ocean,  where  they  live  for  a  few  years,  grow- 
ing to  considerable  size,  and  finally  seek  the  river's 
mouth  and  go  up-stream  to  spawn  and  die,  repeating 
the  life-circuit.    This  is  even  more  remarkable  than 
is  the  migration  of  the  seal,  for  it  is  conceivable  that 
in  the  case  of  the  seal  the  young  could  follow  the  old 
ones  and  learn  the  habit  of  migration.    But  with  the 
salmon  this  is  not  possible,  for  the  young  are  not 
accompanied  down  stream  by  the  old  fish.    Each  host 
of  salmon  is  a  new  crop,  and  in  its  migration  to  and 
from  the  sea  can  be  responding  only  to  a  blind  im- 
pulse.   Quite  similar  to  the  migrations  of  the  seals 
is  that  of  the  birds.    In  the  fall  the  birds  come  to- 
gether, often  in  great  flocks,  and  soon  start  south  for 
the  southern  states,  Mexico,  and  even  Central  and 
South  America,  where  they  spend  the  winter.    As  the 
northern  spring  comes  on,  the  birds  start  north  again 
and  go  to  their  old  nesting  places  with  considerable 
regularity,  the  time  varying  somewhat  with  the  con- 
dition of  the  weather.    Sometimes  they  return  to  the 
same  tree,  and  even  to  the  same  nest,  after  journey- 
ing, in  some  cases,  for  many  thousands  of  miles. 
What  has  brought  about  this  wonderful  phenomenon 
of  migration  in  many  animals  T    The  answer  to  this 
question  for  any  particular  species  of  animal  is  to  be 
found  in  the  past  history  of  the  species  and  of  its 
environment.    All  surviving  animals  are  delicately 


76       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

adjusted  to  the  conditions  of  their  surroundings. 
These  conditions  are  seasonal  and  climatic  changes 
and  changes  of  the  food  supply.  Experiments  have 
confirmed  the  idea  of  the  close  relations  that  animals 
have  to  the  conditions  of  their  surroundings.  To 
give  one  illustration:  tadpoles  confined  in  a  vessel 
can  be  made  to  migrate  by  varying  the  temperature 
of  the  water.  By  heating  the  water  at  one  place  and 
keeping  it  cool  elsewhere,  the  tadpoles  are  made  to 
go  to  that  place  in  the  vessel  of  water  whose  tempera- 
ture suits  them  best.  Certain  temperatures  and  defi- 
nite conditions  as  regards  the  other  factors  of  the 
environment  are  most  favorable  for  the  growth  and 
life  of  every  species. 

Migrations  in  response  to  seasonal  and  climatic 
changes,  and  varying  conditions  of  food-supply,  have 
doubtless  been  as  important  a  factor  in  the  past  life 
of  man  as  with  lower  animals.  It  seems  quite  likely 
that  man  has  passed  through  various  stages  of  exist- 
ence as  regards  food,  such  as  fruit-eating,  fishing  and 
hunting.  Granting  that  this  is  the  case,  then  it  would 
follow  that  migration  has  played  an  important  role 
in  his  past  life.  Man  has  doubtless  had  a  most  deli- 
cate relation  and  adjustment  to  forest  and  stream, 
hill  and  valley,  to  changing  seasons,  to  day  and  night, 
and  perhaps  even  to  the  varying  phases  of  the  moon. 
If  the  generally  accepted  theory  of  man 's  origin  and 
development  is  correct,  we  should  naturally  expect 
that  his  long  apprenticeship  to  these  rhythmical 
changes  of  nature  would  leave  some  remnant  or  trace 
in  his  organism.  Moreover,  nearly  all  history  begins 
with  vague  legends  and  traditions  of  migrations. 
Back  of  the  history  of  Greece  and  Italy  and  England 


THE  ENVIRONMENTAL  INSTINCTS  77 

is  migration.    Great  migrations  of  the  American  In- 
dians are  well  established. 

But  we  have  much  more  than  analogy  and  specula- 
tion on  which  to  base  a  theory  of  a  human  migratory 
instinct.  A  careful  study  of  childhood  and  youth,  a 
study  of  such  phenomena  as  truancies  and  runa- 
ways, and  atavistic,  roving  tendencies  in  many 
adults,  shows  beyond  question  the  traces  of  impulses 
to  rove,  old  in  racial  history,  still  existing  in  man. 
Of  course,  man's  condition  for  some  time  has  been 
predominantly  sessile.  The  lengthening  period  of 
infancy,  necessitating  family  life,  has  made  more  and 
more  for  stability  and  permanency  of  abode,  and 
weakened  the  wandering  and  migrating  tendencies, 
causing  man  to  move  only  when  the  environing  pres- 
sure became  extreme.  Man  has  built  him  a  home,  and 
social  influences  and  the  necessities  of  rearing  the 
children  have  kept  him  and  wife  and  children  there. 
But  when  social  influences  are  weak  and  the  condi- 
tions favoring  roving  or  moving  are  strong,  either 
parent  may  leave  the  home,  and  especially  likely  to 
go  are  the  children.  So,  although  the  migratory  im- 
pulse is  subdued  and  controlled  by  social  and  pa- 
rental influences,  certain  conditions  unfavorable  to 
home  life  may  make  it  possible  for  the  instinctive 
tendency  to  become  operative,  and  sometimes  active 
for  life.  In  the  Gypsies,  the  roving  instinct  is  a  prom- 
inent factor  of  life.  Tramps  and  " hoboes"  travel 
about  all  their  life  under  control  of  the  blind  impulse 
to  move.  It  seems,  then,  that  in  childhood  and  youth 
there  appears  a  genuine,  inherited  tendency  to  mi- 
grate, to  move  about  and  see  and  explore  other 
places,  but  that  favorable  home  conditions  overcome 


78       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

this  impulse  ordinarily.  And,  on  the  other  hand, 
unfavorable  home  and  school  conditions,  and  possi- 
bly other  factors,  may  produce  truancies  and  runa- 
ways that  seem  truly  instinctive  in  nature,  and  in 
some  cases  a  roving  life  thus  begun  is  continued 
and  the  individual  is  never  afterward  content  to  re- 
main long  in  one  place.  This  roving  disposition 
looks  very  much  like  a  condition  of  atavism  or  rever- 
sion. Almost  every  community  has  its  "gad-abouts," 
both  women  and  men.  There  are  men  who  stay  with 
their  families  but  a  short  time,  then  go  away.  Often 
they  return  after  irregular  intervals,  with  a  deter- 
mination to  stay  at  home,  but  it  is  not  for  long,  for 
off  they  go  again. 

Truancies  and  runaways.  —  Truancies  and  runa- 
ways take  place  most  frequently  in  the  spring  and 
summer.  This,  a  priori,  is  to  be  expected,  if  the  the- 
ory of  the  migratory  instinct  set  forth  above  is  cor- 
rect. The  spring  must  always  have  been  an  impor- 
tant period  of  migration  for  primitive  man  after  a 
more  or  less  enforced  life  in  one  place  during  the 
winter.  It  is  well  known  that  the  American  Indian 
broke  camp  and  set  forth  in  the  spring  on  warring 
and  hunting  expeditions.  Most  people  of  our  own 
race,  with  the  approach  of  spring,  feel  the  impulse  to 
move,  to  go  anywhere  to  get  out  of  the  house.  Then, 
too,  don't  we  have  our  annual  migration  when  we 
move  every  spring  into  another  house?  At  any  rate, 
whatever  be  the  explanation,  most  truancies  occur 
in  the  spring. 

As  soon  as  children  are  able  to  walk  and  get  out  of 
doors,  they  run  away,  blindly  going  on  and  on, 
neither  knowing  nor  caring  whither,  but  greatly  en- 


THE  ENVIRONMENTAL  INSTINCTS  79 

joying  the  going.  It  takes,  however,  only  a  little  care 
to  break  this  early  tendency  to  explore  the  world  and 
to  fix  fairly  well  the  habit  of  staying  close  to  the 
house.  But,  easy  as  it  is,  some  parents  allow  the 
matter  to  trouble  them  for  years,  when  perhaps  the 
proper  use  of  a  little  switch  would,  at  the  beginning, 
set  the  matter  right.  In  later  childhood  and  early 
youth  the  tendency  to  run  away  comes  in  different 
and  much  stronger  form.  In  the  years  just  preced- 
ing adolescence,  and  during  the  early  years  of  ado- 
lescence, there  are  many  cases  of  both  truancy  and 
runaway.  If  the  tendency  is  not  checked  and  sub- 
dued in  early  adolescence,  there  is  much  danger  of 
permanent  roving  tendencies.  There  is,  perhaps, 
considerable  danger  in  allowing  a  person,  even  in 
later  adolescence,  to  see  too  much  of  the  world  before 
home  ties  and  domestic  habits  have  become  quite 
strong.  We  are  told  by  students  of  this  subject  that 
during  the  years  of  eight  to  twelve  the  roving  instinct 
is  either  subdued  or  becomes  a  life-long  tendency,  as 
a  rule.  The  rover  may  become  a  life- time  tramp; 
sometimes  he  drifts  into  a  life  of  crime.  The  danger 
of  this  is  very  great,  for  the  man  who  is  here  today 
and  somewhere  else  tomorrow  does  not  feel  the  same 
respect  for  social  custom,  for  life  and  property,  as 
does  the  permanent  member  of  a  community.  Some- 
times the  rover  marries  and  attempts  to  live  a  settled 
life,  with  the  result  already  mentioned, — he  period- 
ically leaves  home, — sometimes,  however,  he  does  not 
leave,  but  continues  to  move  with  his  whole  family 
several  times  a  year. 

Causes  of  Truancies. — From  wKat  has  been  said 
about  the  nature  of  truancy,  it  is  evident  that  any- 


80       THE  OUTLINES  OP   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

thing  which  works  against  the  social  influence  of  the 
school  and  home  may  serve  to  call  the  migratory 
instinct  into  being.  Among  these  are:  (1)  the  desire 
to  work  and  play  out-of-doors;  (2)  the  dislike  of 
school;  (3)  dislike  of  the  teacher;  (4)  impatience  of 
restraint,  i.  e.,  a  desire  for  free  activity;  (5)  a  vague 
discontent  with  the  school  and  home  surroundings 
and  a  blind  desire  to  see  and  try  other  places.  One's 
life  is  new  and  the  world  is  new,  and  one  wishes  to 
go  forth  and  try  the  new  life  in  the  great  new  world. 
This  cause  doubtless  operates  in  the  spring  after  the 
children  have  been  in  school  all  the  winter.  The  work 
has  become  monotonous  and  irksome,  the  body  is 
somewhat  weakened  by  continued  study  and  not 
enough  exercise,  the  school  loses  its  charm  and  the 
world  outside  calls  loudly.  The  desire  to  get  out  and 
run  away  is  then  strong  and  unreasonable,  and  cer- 
tainly appears  to  have  the  nature  of  a  blind  instinct. 
Unless  school  and  home  conditions  are  pretty  favor- 
able, many  boys  now  play  truant  or  run  away. 

The  dislike  of  the  school  and  of  the  teacher  de- 
serves more  extended  treatment.  The  dislike  of  school 
may  be  due  to  inability  to  do  the  work  of  the  school 
well.  And  this,  in  turn,  may  be  due  to  sensory  de- 
fects, to  poor  nutrition,  some  other  bodily  defect,  to 
poor  adaptation  to  the  grade  of  work  required.  But 
it  matters  not  what  the  cause  may  be,  if  the  child  is 
unable  to  do  the  work,  he  will  not  like  the  school  very 
long.  Another  cause  is  dislike  for  the  kind  of  work 
required.  The  work  may  make  demands  on  activities 
that  are  not  functioning  at  the  time,  that  have  not  yet 
appeared,  and  may  leave  unappealed  to,  functions  that 
are  demanding  activity.  It  is  said  that  pupils  seldom 


THE  ENVIBONMENTAL  INSTINCTS  81 

run  away  from  manual  training  schools.  And  as  re- 
gards the  teacher,  whatever  the  nature  of  the  work, 
there  will  not  be  very  great  love  for  school  if  the 
teacher  himself  is  not  attractive.  School,  and  some- 
times the  home,  present  too  much  the  aspect  of  a 
prison.  The  child  runs  away  from  the  prisons  in  his 
desire  for  free  activity. 

Certain  anthropological  and  sociological  consid- 
erations throw  much  light  on  the  cause  of  truancy. 
It  is  found  that  truants  are  not  so  tall,  not  so  heavy, 
not  so  strong,  not  so  well  developed  physically  as  the 
average  person  of  the  same  age.  Most  truants  are 
the  oldest,  youngest  or  the  only  child, — the  child  not 
so  well  socialised.  Some  65%  of  truants  have  incom- 
plete homes.  Poor  home  influence  and  poor  heredity 
both  make  for  weak  social  forces  which  allow  the 
more  primitive  instincts  to  come  forth.  When  poor 
home  influences  coincide  with  bad  school  conditions, 
then  truancies  and  runaways  may  be  expected,  while 
if  only  one  of  these  conditions  exists,  truancies  ought 
not  to  be  so  likely  to  occur. 

The  school  and  the  migratory  instinct. — There  are 
two  possibilities  of  taking  account  of  the  instinct  by 
education:  (1)  The  child's  natural  desire  to  see  and 
explore  and  travel  should  be  in  part  gratified  by  the 
school  and  home.  The  curriculum  and  the  methods 
of  teaching  should  both  make  considerable  demand 
for  out-door  work,  done  both  formally  and  in- 
formally. Most  of  the  world  is  outside  of  the  school 
room.  Education  endeavors  to  acquaint  the  child 
with  the  world.  The  railroad,  the  steam  engine,  the 
automobile,  the  factory  and  workshop,  the  rivers,  hills 
and  mountains,  the  birds  and  squirrels  and  bugs  and 


82        THE  OUTLINES   OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

bees  and  flowers,  the  city  hall  and  the  court  house 
and  the  governor's  mansion, — are  all  outside  of  the 
school  house,  as  are  also  the  various  and  manifold 
activities  of  man.  Not  only  should  the  study  of  these 
things  take  the  child  out-of-doors,  but  the  material 
that  is  furnished  by  the  out-of-door  study  should 
constitute  much  of  the  subject-matter  that  occupies 
the  children  while  within  the  school  room.  To  illus- 
trate :  The  study  of  geography  should  involve  mak- 
ing a  complete  exploration  of  the  locality,  charting 
its  various  geographical  features,  such  as  streams 
and  hills,  forests,  etc.  The  processes  of  land-forma- 
tion and  of  erosion  should  be  studied  first-hand.  This 
work  should  make  the  children  explorers  and  would 
go  a  long  way  toward  satisfying  the  desire  to  get  out 
of  the  school  house  and  rove.  The  study  of  the  fauna 
and  flora  of  the  locality  would  also  furnish  opportu- 
nity for  much  out-door  work  and  would  in  every  way 
be  a  splendid  thing  for  the  children,  satisfying  many 
needs  of  their  natures.  Within  limits,  then,  educa- 
tion can  and  should  satisfy  the  demands  of  whatever 
instinctive  desire  to  rove  and  explore  the  children 
may  have.  (2)  The  school  and  the  home  should  have 
their  social  aspects  made  of  such  a  nature  and 
strength  that  the  children  will  have  little  desire  for 
any  more  extended  migrations  than  those  provided 
for  by  the  school  and  home.  The  school  and  home 
should  be  the  center  around  which  the  child  revolves, 
but  should  exert  such  a  strong  pull  upon  him  that  he 
will  not  leave  his  orbit,  comet-like,  perhaps  never  to 
return.  In  other  words,  if  the  school  and  home  sat- 
isfy the  normal  needs  of  the  child,  there  need  not  be 
much  fear  that  it  will  run  away  from  either. 


THE  ENVIRONMENTAL  INSTINCTS  83 

THE  COLLECTING  INSTINCT. 

Its  universality.  —  Statistical  studies  show  that 
practically  all  children  make  collections  at  some  time 
in  early  life.  Doubtless  imitation  and  suggestion  can 
account  for  many  .of  the  facts,  and  still  other  of  the 
facts  might  be  referred  to  certain  of  the  individual- 
istic instincts.  But  such  studies  of  the  subject  as 
have  been  made  make  it  appear  that  the  universality 
of  the  phenomena  can  not  be  adequately  explained 
except  on  the  ground  of  a  specific  instinct.  Children 
from  a  very  early  age  show  a  disposition  to  lay  their 
hands  on  everything  that  attracts  their  attention  and 
to  take  it  home, — such  things  as  pebbles,  sticks, 
leaves,  acorns,  bright  pieces  of  metal,  colored  paper, 
cloth  and  strings, — anything  that  attracts  the  atten- 
tion. The  objects  are  not  taken  with  any  end  in 
view — at  least  are  not  at  first — and  often  very  little 
attention  is  paid  to  the  objects  afterward.  It  looks 
very  much  like  the  remnant  of  an  instinct  to  appro- 
priate everything  loose  that  could  possibly  be  of  any 
service.  The  impulse  is  not  only  apparently  univer- 
sal, but  is  pretty  strong.  The  fact  that  as  many  as 
five  collections  have  been  found  to  be  made  on  an 
average  by  the  children  of  a  public  school  shows  that 
much  energy  is  expended  in  making  these  collections- 
Development  of  the  instinct. — Children  make  col- 
lections as  early  as  the  age  of  three.  The  impulse 
to  collect  increases  in  strength  till  the  age  of  eleven, 
when  it  reaches  a  maximum,  and  from  about  the  age 
of  fourteen  there  is  a  decline.  Up  to  the  age  of  eight 
the  impulse  is  crude  and  groping,  undirected  by  any 
motive,  but  from  the  age  of  eight  on.  the  impulse  de- 


84       THE  OUTLINES  OP   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

velops  into  a  genuine  interest.  In  some  cases  it 
becomes  a  strong  passion,  superseding  nearly  all 
other  interests.  At  first  there  seems  to  be  little  inter- 
est in  the  things  themselves  that  are  collected;  the 
phenomena  are  those  of  a  blind,  groping  instinct. 
Later,  the  objects  collected  assume  to  their  possessor 
great  value,  whether  they  be  worthless,  cancelled 
stamps  or  Indian  arrowheads.  Each  individual  ob- 
ject is  carefully  preserved,  and  often  the  possessor 
would  not  sell  his  collection  for  any  price. 

Every  conceivable  kind  of  thing  is  collected;  nat- 
ural objects,  however,  rank  highest.  Of  course,  imi- 
tation has  much  to  do  with  determining  the  kind  of 
thing  collected.  The  specialisation  of  the  object  that 
calls  forth  the  response  of  collecting  is  in  harmony 
with  the  general  fact  of  the  specialisation  of  stimulus 
that  has  already  been  mentioned.  A  particular  kind 
of  thing,  or  a  particular  range  of  things,  calls  forth 
the  response  to  the  exclusion  of  other  kinds  of  ob- 
jects. Many  of  the  phenomena  here  doubtless  fall 
within  the  realm  of  habit,  but  there  seems  to  be  a 
natural  tendency  back  of  the  habits. 

In  the  earlier  stages  of  the  instinct  little  arrange- 
ment is  to  be  found  in  the  collections,  little  classifica- 
tion. The  collectors  are  naturalists  rather  than 
scientists.  The  objects  are  merely  heaped  to- 
gether, often  in  a  heterogeneous  mass,  sometimes  not 
got  together  at  all,  merely  left  around  about  the 
house ;  but  later  much  skill  and  interest  are  shown  in 
arranging  and  classifying  the  objects. 

Pedagogy  of  the  collecting  instinct. — Education 
could  profit  greatly  by  making  large  demands  upon 
the  collecting  instinct.  It  seems  clear  that  early 


THE  ENVIBONMENTAL  INSTINCTS  85 

childhood  is  the  time  to  send  children  forth  to  the 
fields  and  woods,  to  study  what  they  find  there  and 
to  gather  specimens.  The  children  can  form  nat- 
uralists' clubs  for  the  purpose  of  studying  the  nat- 
ural environment.  Such  study  should  embrace  rocks, 
soils,  plants  with  their  leaves,  flowers,  fruits  and 
specimens  of  the  wood  of  the  various  trees.  Birds 
and  insects  can  be  studied  and  collections  made  of 
each  species.  The  work  of  such  a  club  would  have  a 
twofold  value.  (1)  The  study  and  collecting  acquaint 
the  child  with  his  natural  environment,  and  in  doing 
it  afford  a  sphere  for  the  activity  of  many  aspects  of 
his  nature.  They  take  him  out-of-doors  and  give  an 
opportunity  for  exploring  every  nook  and  corner  of 
the  natural  environment.  The  collecting  can  often 
be  done  in  such  a  way  as  to  appeal  to  the  group  in- 
stincts. For  instance,  the  club  could  hold  meetings 
for  exhibiting  and  studying  the  specimens,  and  some- 
times the  actual  collecting  might  be  done  by  children 
in  groups.  (2)  The  specimens  collected  should  be 
put  into  the  school  museum,  and  the  aim  of  this 
museum  should  be  to  represent  completely  the  local 
environment,  the  natural  and  physical  environment, 
and  also  the  industrial,  civil  and  social  environment. 
The  museum  should  be  completely  illustrative  of  the 
child's  natural,  physical  and  social  environment. 
The  museum,  therefore,  would  be  educative  in  its 
making,  and  when  it  is  made  it  would  have  immense 
value  to  the  community,  not  only  to  the  children,  but 
to  the  whole  people.  In  this  museum,  of  course, 
should  be  found  the  minerals,  rocks,  soils,  insects — 
particularly  those  economically  important  —  birds, 
especially  those  of  any  economic  importance,  and 


86       THE  OUTLINES  OF   EDUCATIONAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

also  specimens  of  all  the  wild  animals  of  the  locality. 
If  proper  appeal  is  made  to  the  natural  desire  of  the 
children  to  make  collections,  this  instinct  would  soon 
be  made  of  service  in  producing  a  very  valuable  col- 
lection. The  school  museum  in  which  they  are  placed 
should  also  include  other  classes  of  specimens. 
There  should  be  specimens  showing  industrial  evolu- 
tion, the  stages  of  manufacture  of  the  raw  material 
of  the  locality,  specimens  of  local  historical  interest, 
pictures,  documents,  books.  The  room  in  which  these 
specimens  are  housed  should  be  at  least  as  large  as 
the  regular  school  room.  The  museum  and  a  smaller 
room  for  a  work  shop  should  be  most  important 
parts  of  the  school  building.  In  rural  communities, 
perhaps  in  all  communities,  the  school  building 
should  be  the  center  of  interest  and  activity  for  all 
the  people  of  the  community.  When  we  add  to  the 
museum  a  library,  not  only  for  the  children,  but  for 
the  old  people  as  well,  we  have  a  pretty  good  idea  of 
what  ought  to  be  in  a  school  house.  The  school 
should  stand  for  the  interests  of  the  community  and 
should  represent  them.  It  could  be  made  of  such  a 
nature  that  the  parents  would  go  there  nearly  as 
often  as  do  the  children.  The  school  should  be  for 
the  instruction  of  all  the  people  of  the  community. 
It  should  be  the  experiment  station,  the  library,  the 
debating  club,  the  art  gallery,  for  the  whole  commu- 
nity, and  should  crystallise  the  life  of  the  community 
and  unify  it.  Of  course,  the  man  who  runs  the  school 
should  know  and  represent  the  community  life;  he 
should  be  a  man  capable  of  giving  advice  to  the  peo- 
ple of  the  community  concerning  the  things  that  they 


THE   ENVIBONMENTAL  INSTINCTS.  87 

must  do  and  the  life  that  they  must  live.  In  the  farm- 
ing communities  he  should  know  more  about  farm- 
ing than  any  one  else  in  the  community.  This  ideal 
school  is  not  all  to  grow  out  of  the  collecting  instinct, 
but  this  instinct  and  the  museum  that  is  to  come  from 
it  would  be  important  factors  in  making  such  a 
school. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY. 

The  Migratory  Instinct. 

1.  Make  a  complete  study  of  a  case  of  chronic  truancy,  consider- 
ing it  from  every  point  of  view.    Discover  the  boy's  natural  desires 
and  inclinations ;  inquire  carefully  into  home  conditions  and  hered- 
itary influences.    Are  both  parents  living?    Do  they  live  together? 
What  is  the  boy's  position  in  the  family,  i.  e.,  is  he  an  only  child, 
youngest  child,  oldest  child?    How  large  is  the  family?    What  are 
the  school  conditions?    How  does  the  boy  get  on  with  his  studies, 
with  the  other  pupils,  with  his  teacher? 

2.  Can  you  find  a  case  of  truancy  in  which  the  home  and  school 
conditions  are  good  and  the  child  does  well  with  his  studies?    If 
you  can  find  such  a  case,  is  there  an  explanation  for  it  in  the  ex- 
cessive migratory  impulses  of  the  child? 

3.  Did  you  ever  'play'  truant  or  run  away  from  home  yourself? 
If  so,  what  were  the  causes  and  consequences? 

4.  Make  a  study  of  as  many  cases  of  truancy  as  possible  to 
determine  whether  the  truants  have  any  natural  traits  in  common. 
For  example,  do  they  love  the  woods  and  streams?    Do  they  like 
to  hunt  or  fish?     Are  they  more  interested  in  objects  of  nature 
than  the  average  child?    Do  they  know  more  about  what  is  doing 
in  the  world,  more  about  machinery,  etc.,  than  the  average  child? 

5.  When  you  have  the  opportunity,  make  a  study  of  the  an- 
thropological aspects  of  truants,  comparing  their  height,  weight, 
vital  capacity,  etc.,  with  those  of  normal  children. 

6.  Similarly  make  a  psychological  study  of  truants,  comparing 
their  various  mental  functions  with  those  of  normal  children,  tak- 
ing such  functions  as  memory,  attention,  learning  capacity. 

7.  How  should  a  teacher  deal  with  truancy?    How  should  par- 
ents deal  with  it?    Are  temporary  measures,  such  as  punishment, 
of  any  use?    Rather,  should  teachers  and  parents  try  to  discover 
the  fundamental  causes  and  remove  the  causes  if  possible?    Can 
you  cite  a  case  in  which  it  was  apparently  impossible  to  remove  the 
causes? 


88         THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY. 

8.  Is  it  strange  that  some  children  should  find  it  hard  to  recon- 
cile themselves  to  the  schoolroom,  when  we  consider  how  different 
the  confinement,  repression,  restrictions  and  work  of  the  school- 
room are  from  the  primitive  conditions  of  child  life? 

9.  Read  the  first  chapter  in  Swift's  Mind  in  the  Making  to  see 
if  it  throws  any  light  on  the  causes  of  truancy.     The  essential 
point  to  consider  is  that  many  of  the  great  men  of  modern  times 
found  the  work  of  the  school  poorly  fitted  to  their  needs  and  de- 
sires. 

10.  To  what  extent  are  the  schools  themselves  responsible  for 
truancy  ? 

11.  Suggest  changes  in  the  curriculum  and  methods  of  the  school 
that  would  reduce  the  number  of  cases  of  truancy. 

12.  How  can  the  school  utilize  the  migratory  impulses  of  the 
children? 

13.  Why  do  girls  seldom  'play'  truant?    Did  you  ever  know  of 
a  girl  running  away  from  school  or  from  home?    If  you  know  of  a 
case,  describe  the  circumstances. 

14.  Is  there  any  connection  between  truancies  and  the  modern 
street  gang? 

15.  If  it  is  ever  possible  for  you  to  do  so,  collect  the  data  for 
truancies  in  a  large  city  and  find  their  distribution  for  the  months 
and  seasons. 

16.  Are  there  more  cases  of  truancy  in  the  city  in  proportion  to 
population  than  in  the  country? 

17.  In  a  case  of  truancy  resulting  from  a  poorly-nourished  body, 
what  is  the  teacher  to  do? 

18.  Can  you  find  any  evidence  of  truancy  'running  in  a  family'? 
If  so,  are  there  any  other  characteristic  traits  in  the  family? 

19.  Do  you  know  of  a  man  or  woman  who  seems  to  have  re- 
tained the  migratory  impulse?    If  so,  write  an  account  of  the  case. 

20.  Collect  data  to  show  where  truants  go  when  they  run  away 
from  school. 

21.  If  a  large  amount  of  time  is  taken  to  study  the  social  and 
natural  world  out  of  doors,  will  there  be  time  enough  left  for  prac- 
tice and  drill  in  arithmetic,  writing,  spelling,  language,  literature, 
etc.,  in  the  schoolroom? 

22.  Which  is  the  more  important  factor  in  the  production  of  the 
American  'hobo*  or  tramp,  the  migratory  instinct  or  our  social 
conditions? 

23.  Suppose  a  boy  should  run  away  from  home.    How  should 
the  matter  be  treated  by  the  parents?    What  do  you  think  of  the 
plan  of  paying  no  attention  to  the  runaway  for  a  time  in  the  hope 
that  he  might  have  such  a  bitter  experience  that  he  would  not  care 
to  repeat  It? 


THE   ENVIRONMENTAL   INSTINCTS.  89 

The  Collecting  Instinct. 

1.  If  you  ever  made  a  collection,  write  an  account  of  it.    What 
did  you  collect?    What  was  the  motive?    What  did  you  do  with  the 
things  collected?    How  many  collections  have  you  made?    How  old 
were  you  when  you  made  them? 

2.  Outline  a  plan  of  school  work  for  the  utilisation  of  the  col- 
lecting instinct. 

3.  Make  a  list  of  the  things  that  children  in  the  rural  schools 
can  collect ;  make  another  list  of  the  things  that  could  be  collected 
by  city  children. 

4.  Point  out  the  different  ways  in  which  education  could  profit 
from  excursions  to  make  collections  and  from  the  material  col- 
lected.   Show  that  the  gang  instinct,  the  migratory  and  the  collect- 
ing instincts  would  be  called  into  play ;  show  also  that  the  material 
and  experience  would  be  available  in  many  subjects. 

5.  Outline  a  plan  for  a  school  museum  in  a  rural  community. 
Include  in  your  plan  the  material  for  the  museum  and  its  arrange- 
ment. 

6.  Will  a  competent  teacher,  who  has  a  little  tact  and  common 
sense,  have  any  trouble  in  convincing  his  patrons  of  the  value  of 
the  kind  of  work  suggested  in  the  chapter?    Of  course,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  begin  in  a  small  way  and  let  the  value  of  the  work  become 
evident  before  requests  are  made  for  equipment.    And  equipment, 
after  all,  is  not  of  very  great  importance.    The  greatest  part  of  the 
required  equipment  is  knowledge  and  enthusiasm  on  the  part  of 
the  teacher. 

7.  Point  out  the  value  to  a  community  of  having  in  the  school 
building  a  complete  collection  of  the  insects  of  economic  impor- 
tance in  the  locality,  and  the  value  of  having  in  the  library  scien- 
tific literature  on  the  life  histories  of  these  insects.    Show  that  this 
is  in  harmony  with  the  idea  of  education  given  in  the  first  chapter. 

8.  Do  you  think  a  complete  collection  of  the  birds  of  the  locality 
would  be  of  value?    Or,  rather,  should  the  knowledge  of  birds  come 
from  field  study? 

9.  Do  you  think  it  would  be  a  proper  work  of  the  school  to 
organize   exploring   parties   and   expeditions   for   the   purpose   of 
getting  geological,  geographical,  botanical  and  zoological  knowledge 
and  specimens? 

10.  Would  it  be  a  loss  of  time  for  high-school  boys  to  spend  a 
week  at  such  work,  camping  out  in  primitive  fashion?    Is  it  not 
possible  that  we  have  too  narrow  a  view  of  the  nature  and  function 
of  the  school? 

REFERENCES. 

Th«  Migratory  Instinct. 

E.  A.  Kirkpatrick,  Fundamentals  of  Child  Study,  p.  213;  L.  W. 
Kline.  In  Pedagogical  Seminary,  Vol.  v,  p.  381 ;  American  Jour- 
nal of  Psychology,  Vol.  x,  p.  60;  W.  K.  Brooks,  in  Popular 


90        THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY. 

Science  Monthly,  Vol.  lii,  p.  784 ;  G.  Stanley  Hall,  Adolescence, 
1904,  Vol.  li,  p.  375 ;  Vol.  i,  p.  348 ;  M.  V.  O'Shea,  Social  Devel- 
opment and  Education,  1909,  p.  151,  a  mere  statement  that  the 
majority  of  pupils  in  school  would  be  truants  if  they  dared  to 
be;  Psychological  Clinic,  Vol.  i,  p.  21,  for  a  description  of  a 
typical  case  of  truancy ;  L.  P.  Ayres,  in  Psychological  Clinic, 
Vol.  Hi,  p.  1,  on  the  relation  of  irregular  attendance  to  poor 
work  and  elimination  from  school. 

The  Collecting  Instinct. 

Kirkpatrick,  Fundamentals  of  Child  Study,  p.  205 ;  G.  Stanley 
Hall,  Adolescence,  Vol.  il,  p.  484;  C.  F.  Burk,  in  Pedagogical 
Seminary,  Vol.  vii,  p.  179;  E.  Barnes,  Studies  in  Education, 
1896-1902,  Vol.  1,  p.  144, 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE   ADAPTIVE   INSTINCTS— PLAY. 

1.  Physiological  considerations.  —  (1)  Relation 
of  muscle  activity  to  brain  activity.  One-third  to 
one-half  of  the  brain  surface  has  motor  functions, 
together  with  other  functions.  Of  course,  in  a  sense, 
every  part  of  the  brain  has  motor  functions,  for 
every  part  is  an  interpolation  between  stimulus  and 
response.  But  just  as  there  are  large  areas  more 
directly  concerned  with  sensation,  so  there  are  large 
areas  more  directly  concerned  with  the  initiation  of 
muscular  contraction.  It  is  significant  that  so  large 
a  part  of  the  brain  is  concerned  with  motion.  (2) 
Muscular  exercise  and  brain  activity.  Of  the  motor 
areas  above  mentioned,  certain  parts  are  directly 
concerned  with  the  movement  of  definite  groups  of 
muscles,  and  for  these  brain  centers  to  develop,  the 
exercise  of  these  groups  of  muscles  is  necessary.  If, 
for  any  reason,  a  group  of  muscles  can  not  perform 
its  proper  function  of  contraction,  the  corresponding 
centers  will  not  have  their  proper  development.  The 
necessity  of  co-ordinating  muscular  movement,  with- 
out doubt,  gave  rise  to  the  origin  and  development  of 
these  centers,  in  the  first  place,  in  species  develop- 
ment. So,  in  the  individual,  the  proper  development 
of  the  motor  centers  is  dependent  upon  muscular  de- 
velopment. The  biological  experience  of  our  species 

[91] 


92         THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY, 
i 

has  fixed  in  the  organism  certain  necessities  of  indi- 
vidual development  which  cannot  be  ignored.  (3) 
Loss  of  body  parts.  A  person  losing  a  limb  in  early 
life  will  lack  development  in  that  part  of  the  brain 
controlling  that  limb.  This,  of  course,  is  but  a 
special  case  of  tho  fact  just  discussed,  and  both  may 
have  their  truth  more  generally  expressed  in  (4) 
Brain  development  and  exercise.  Not  only  does  each 
group  of  muscles  have  its  corresponding  brain  cen- 
ter dependent  upon  it,  but  the  development  of  the 
brain  as  a  whole  is  dependent  upon  the  richness  and 
fullness  of  muscular  activity.  The  biological  func- 
tion of  the  brain  is  the  co-ordination  of  muscular 
activities  with  one  another  and  ivith  sensory  stimu- 
lation. (5)  Muscular  adjustment.  Muscular  co-ordi- 
nation and  adjustment  are  more  important  for  brain 
development  than  is  mere  muscular  strength.  The 
greater  the  variability  and  complexity  of  muscular 
movement,  the  greater  the  demands  upon  the  co-ordi- 
nating centers,  and,  therefore,  the  greater  their  de- 
velopment. It  therefore  follows  that  the  kind  of 
work  and  of  play  that  is  best  for  development  is  not 
that  which  calls  for  mere  monotonous  repetition  of 
acts,  but  that  which  calls  for  change  and  demands 
the  meeting  of  new  situations.  We  shall  learn  later 
that  mere,  lifeless  repetition  has  no  place  anywhere 
in  education,  not  even  in  drill  for  the  fixing  of  me- 
chanical operations.  (6)  Later  psychic  life  related 
to  early  muscular  activity.  The  extent  and  range  of 
later  psychic  life  are  dependent,  in  large  measure, 
upon  the  extent  and  complexity  of  the  neuro-muscu- 
lar  activity  of  early  life;  i.  e.,  varied  and  extensive 
muscular  activity  in  early  life  means,  other  things 


THE   ADAPTIVE   INSTINCTS — PLAY.  93 

being  equal,  rich  psychic  life  later.  The  bright  child 
is  active,  always  doing,  always  contriving;  the  dull 
child  is  slow,  uncertain  and  without  initiative.  Mus- 
cular activity  and  mentality  are  clearly  bound  up 
together  and  are  mutually  dependent.  It  need  not  be 
said  that  muscular  activity  is  a  cause  of  mentality, 
but  it  certainly  is  a  necessary  condition  of  mental 
development.  That  an  individual  may  reach  normal 
maturity  it  certainly  is  necessary  for  that  individual 
to  pass  through  a  childhood  and  a  youth  of  almost 
infinitely  varied  and  increasing  activity.  So  close  is 
this  interdependence  that  the  early  mental  develop- 
ment of  a  child  is  much  affected  by  the  amount  of  at- 
tention given  it,  the  amount  of  handling  in  infancy 
and  the  opportunity  afforded  it  for  play  and  exercise. 
(7)  The  will,  the  feelings  and  the  muscles.  Accord- 
ing to  James,  even  feeling  and  will  are  intimately  re- 
lated to  muscle  activity  and  development.  A  large 
part  of  feeling,  if  not  all  of  it,  is  due  to  the  muscular 
response  of  the  body  accompanying  sensation  and 
ideation.  Many  of  the  finer  feelings  seem  dependent 
upon  the  facial  and  other  muscles  of  expression.  The 
crude  and  unskilled  laborer  who  habitually  uses  but 
the  larger  muscles,  and  is  incapable  of  fine  muscular 
co-ordination,  seems  also  incapable  of  experiencing 
the  finer  shades  of  emotion.  And  there  is  probably 
much  truth  in  the  popular  notion  of  the  relation  of 
weak  will  to  flabby  muscles.  The  man  who  is  always 
doing  is  the  man  who  can  do,  and  the  man  who  never 
does  anything  is  the  man  who  can  not  do.  Although 
what  we  call  strong  and  weak  wills  are  largely  mat- 
ters of  habit,  there  is  probably  some  basis  for  them 
in  the  muscular  system.  A  life  of  continued  activity 


94         THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY. 

makes  further  activity  possible  and  easy,  and  a  life 
of  inactivity  tends  to  make  activity  impossible. 

These  physiological  facts  make  it  certain  that  mus- 
cular activity  and  nervous  organisation  and  develop- 
ment are  closely  related,  and  since  mental  develop- 
ment is  dependent  upon  nervous  development,  it  is 
therefore  related  to  muscular  activity. 

Definitions  and  theories.  —  (1)  Psychologically, 
play  can  not  be  distinguished  from  other  forms  of 
pleasurable  action.  It  is  always  pleasurable,  but 
work  may  also  be  pleasurable.  Play  is  an  activity 
performed  for  its  own  sake  or  the  pleasure  accom- 
panying it,  and  for  no  other  end,  while  work  may  be 
denned  as  an  activity  performed  not  for  the  sake  of 
the  act  itself,  but  for  the  sake  of  some  other  end  that 
is  to  grow  out  of  the  act.  One  plays  ball  for  the  fun 
there  is  in  it,  while  one  plows  and  tills  the  soil,  not 
for  the  fun  there  is  in  the  work,  but  for  the  sake  of 
the  grain  that  is  to  grow  for  his  food.  If  one  plays 
ball  merely  because  there  is  felt  the  need  of  exercise, 
then  playing  ball  is  work,  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  tilling  of  the  soil  may  take  on  the  aspect  of  play 
if  the  work  is  done  for  its  own  sake  and  not  for  the 
fruits  of  the  labor.  From  this  common-sense  point 
of  view,  then,  we  may  say  that  when  an  action  is  per- 
formed for  some  other  end  than  itself,  it  may  be 
called  work;  when  for  its  own  sake,  play.  But  this 
distinction  of  purpose  between  work  and  play  is  not  a 
psychological  one.  Psychologically,  all  we  can  say 
is  that  play  is  one  of  the  highly  pleasurable  forms  of 
action.  We  may  also  say,  however,  that  a  large  part 
of  the  play  of  children  seems  to  be  instinctive ;  this 


THE  ADAPTIVE  INSTINCTS — PLAY.         95 

fact  throws  it  into  the  class  of  instinctive  or  inherited 
forms  of  action. 

(2)  It  is  from  the  standpoint  of  biology  and  genetic 
psychology  that  play  must  be  considered  if  we  are  to 
understand  its  true  nature  as  an  instinct.  From  this 
point  of  view,  we  find  play  to  be  an  expression  of  the 
ripening  instincts  of  animals,  and  instead  of  being  it- 
self a  special  kind  of  instinct,  it  is  an  aspect  of  nearly 
all  the  instincts  that  appear  in  the  animal's  develop- 
ment. It  has  been  called  the  ontogenetic  rehearsal 
of  the  phylogenetic  series.  "Whether  play  looks  back- 
ward or  forward  is  a  disputed  point.  Hall,  Johnson 
and  others  think  the  chief  characteristic  of  play  ac- 
tivity is  its  harking  back  to  the  past  of  the  species' 
history.  This  activity  may  have  no  meaning  in  the 
present  or  future  life  of  the  child,  but  has  its  only 
rational  interpretation  in  the  fact  of  recapitulation. 
As  a  child  passes  to  maturity,  successive  neuromus- 
cular  co-ordinations  are  formed  and  demand  for 
their  growth  and  development,  activity  such  as  was 
common  in  the  past,  the  remote  past,  of  the  species. 
Groos,  who  has  studied  and  written  extensively  in 
this  field,  believes  that  play  looks  forward ;  that  nat- 
ural selection  has  led  to  the  survival  of  those  animals 
that  play  in  their  infancy  the  things  that  they  are  to 
do  as  adults.  This  early  activity  gives  exercise  and 
practice  to  the  animal  in  doing  the  things  that  it  must 
as  an  adult  do  in  order  to  survive,  and  as  an  adult  it 
performs  its  life  activities  better  because  of  this 
early  practice.  It  is  very  doubtful,  if  the  phenomena 
of  imitation  and  suggestion  be  left  out  of  account, 
that  much  that  we  call  play  has  this  interpretation. 
It  is  indeed  rather  doubtful  that  a  truly  instinctive 


96         THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY. 

action  is  in  need  of  practice  for  its  perfect  perform- 
ance. The  fact  seems  to  be  that  at  least  many  of  the 
play  activities  of  children  have  their  only  rational 
explanation  in  the  past  life  of  the  species,  and  they 
have  their  great  significance  for  the  present  not  in 
that  they  are  direct  preparation  for  adult  activity, 
but  in  that  they  are  necessities  of  individual  develop- 
ment. We  reach  adulthood  only  after  some  twenty 
years  of  growth  and  development.  Each  step  of  this 
growth  is  conditioned  very  definitely  by  preceding 
steps  and  stages.  The  nature  of  each  step  has  been 
fixed  by  our  biological  past.  In  other  words,  devel- 
oping structures  demand,  within  certain  limits,  defi- 
nite activities,  which,  in  turn,  condition  later  devel- 
opment, and  therefore  later  activities.  He  who  would 
read  aright  the  long  period  of  infancy  must  read  it 
in  the  light  of  the  past.  In  this  way  only  can  we 
understand  the  conditions  and  possibilities  of  its 
future. 

Another  theory  of  play  that  goes  under  the  names 
of  Schiller  and  of  Spencer  is  known  as  the  excess 
energy  theory.  This  theory  considers  play  to  be  an 
expression  of  the  excess  energy  of  the  individual.  It 
is  probably  true  that  this  is  a  prominent  factor  of 
much  play  in  children  and  especially  of  adults.  But 
the  theory  does  not  express  the  whole  truth  for  chil- 
dren when  there  is  no  excess  energy.  And  much 
adult  play  has  its  explanation  in  certain  instincts, 
particularly  rivalry  and  competition.  The  fact  is 
that  there  are  several  forms  of  activity  commonly 
called  play.  But  while  this  is  true,  there  is  certainly 
a  large  class  of  play  activity  of  children  that  has  its 
only  rational  explanation  and  interpretation  in  some 
such  theory  as  that  held  by  Hall  and  Johnson.  At 


THE   ADAPTIVE   INSTINCTS — PLAY. 


97 


the  same  time  it  may  be  true  that  some  of  these  play 
activities  have  their  proper  explanation  in  one  or  the 
other  of  the  other  theories,  especially  that  of  Schiller 
and  Spencer.  But  the  play  of  children  considered  as 
the  expression  of  the  ripening  instincts,  and  the  play 
of  adults  considered  as  the  expression  of  certain 
strong  instincts,  such  as  competition,  does  justice  to 
most  of  the  facts.  That  pleasure  is  always  present 
in  play  is  doubtless  due  to  the  fact  that  play  is  the 
free  expression  of  natural  functions,  and  this  seems 
to  be  true  of  all  instinctive  actions. 

(3)  The  view*  that  we  have  emphasized  gives  to 
play  a  great  significance,  because  it  is  only  by  play 
of  the  right  kind  and  in  the  right  order  that  normal 
individual  development  can  come.  Previous  consid- 
erations have  shown  us  that  activity  is  necessary  for 
mental  development.  Our  consideration  of  play 
shows  that  certain  forms  of  activity,  within  limits, 
are  necessary.  Moreover,  in  infancy,  work  can  not 
give  sufficient  activity ;  besides  it  would  be  difficult  to 
find  for  a  child  the  right  kind  of  work  and  nearly  im- 
possible to  provide  sufficient  variety  for  the  best  de- 

*For  a  view  of  the  nature  of  play,  somewhat  similar  to  the  one 
emphasized  in  this  chapter,  see  L.  E.  Appleton,  A.  Comparative 
Study  of  the  Play  Activities  of  Adult  Savages  and  Civilized  Chil- 
dren, 1910.  Dr.  Appleton  thinks  that  the  demands  of  developing 
structures  for  activity  is  a  sufficient  explanation  of  play.  "The 
structure  of  the  body  places  limitation  upon  the  kind  of  reaction 
which  it  is  possible  to  make.  The  child,  being  built  upon  the  same 
general  plan  as  his  ancestors,  must  of  necessity  use  the  same  mus- 
cles and  organs  and  in  about  the  same  way,  and  in  so  doing  both 
recapitulates  the  phylogenetic  inheritance  and  anticipates  his  onto- 
genetic  future  in  those  plays  which  have  been  called  instinctive, 
and  which  are  especially  typical  of  infancy  and  early  childhood." 
This  theory,  to  some  extent,  takes  into  account  the  three  principles 
Involved  in  the  three  theories  stated  above,  and  doubtless  accounts 
pretty  well  for  all  the  facts. 


98         THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL.  PSYCHOLOGY. 

velopment,  but  play  provides  for  this  activity  in 
abundance.  The  recapitulation  theory  emphasises 
the  necessity  of  certain  forms  of  play  in  different 
periods  of  growth — a  definite  order  of  plays  in  order 
for  the  individual  to  reach  the  highest  development. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  actual  performances  of 
the  child  need  not  be  the  identical  form  of  activity 
of  our  ancestors,  but  must  make  demands  upon  the 
same  aspects  of  mind  and  body.  But  quite  apart 
from  all  theories  of  the  meaning  of  play,  there  can 
be  no  question  of  its  great  significance  for  individual 
development,  nor  can  there  be  any  question  that  there 
is  a  proper  sequence  of  plays  best  adapted  to  devel- 
opment. Indeed,  it  is  the  empirical  facts  that  sup- 
port the  recapitulation  theory,  which  is  merely  an 
attempt  to  put  meaning  into  the  facts. 

Development  of  the  play  instinct.  —  In  order  to 
understand  the  development  of  the  play  activities  we 
have  only  to  consider  the  development  of  the  child. 
For  our  purposes  the  life  of  the  child  may  be  divided 
into  three  periods:  (1)  infancy,  (2)  childhood  and 
(3)  youth,  and  each  of  these  periods  may  be  further 
divided  into  an  earlier  and  later  period.  Infancy  is 
the  first  five  or  six  years  of  life,  and  is  the  time  dur- 
ing which  the  child  comes  into  possession  of  its  pow- 
ers. At  birth  it  is  helpless,  undeveloped  and  exer- 
cises but  few  of  its  future  functions.  Everything 
must  be  done  for  it  or  it  dies.  In  the  first  half-dozen 
years  of  life  it  acquires  the  power  of  locomotion  and 
of  speech;  its  senses  develop  and  its  brain  rapidly 
grows  to  nearly  its  full  size.  By  the  end  of  this 
period  it  has  learned  a  world  and  acquired  a  fairly 
definite  system  of  responses  to  this  world.  This  is 


THE   ADAPTIVE   INSTINCTS — PLAY.  99 

the  great  period  of  physical  growth  and  adjustment, 
and  everything  looking  to  the  child's  welfare  should 
merely  provide  for  healthy  growth.  Most  of  the  indi- 
vidualistic instincts  come  into  function,  and  habits 
are  formed  to  meet  the  varied  situations  of  early  life. 
This  is  pre-eminently  an  animal  period  of  life.  Rea- 
son is  very  crude  even  in  the  later  years  of  the 
period — a  matter  of  association  merely.  The  period 
is  most  accurately  characterised  as  one  of  intense 
activity.  The  senses  are  taking  in  a  virgin  world, 
and  the  muscles  are  trying  this  world  on  every  side. 
Life  now  is  all  play.  Each  awakening  impulse  must 
have  expression,  every  organ  of  sense  must  function. 
The  world  must  be  tried,  the  body  must  be  tested. 
The  legs  must  kick,  the  hands  must  pull  and  pound 
and  scratch,  the  mouth  must  bite.  The  animal  child 
becomes  a  human  being.  This  life  and  this  play  are 
simple,  and  the  toys  and  playthings  of  the  child  now 
should  be  simple — mere  sticks  to  pound  with,  bright 
objects,  balls,  blocks,  sand  piles  and  boxes.  The  toy 
is  the  child's  means  of  interpreting  and  testing  the 
world.  With  it,  he  learns  the  properties  of  matter 
and  forces  and  provides  stimuli  for  his  sense  organs. 
The  very  first  play  is  largely  a  matter  of  experiment- 
ing with  the  sense  organs  and  other  bodily  organs ; 
the  child  learns  to  use  himself,  learns  the  extent  of 
his  powers.  And  in  the  later  years  of  the  period  the 
same  activity  continues  and  becomes  more  vigorous 
and  extensive.  The  activities  are  extended  to  the 
fields  and  woods  and  take  in  a  much  larger  surround- 
ing ;  the  child  runs,  climbs,  jumps,  and  examines  and 
explores  every  corner  of  his  environment,  becomes 
acquainted  in  the  plant  and  animal  world,  and  makes 


100      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY. 

collections.  But  all  this  play  is  informal,  and  the 
child  cares  little  for  formal,  organised  games  such  as 
the  kindergarten  provides.  Play  is  essentially  indi- 
vidualistic, and  the  child  cares  only  to  discover  the 
world  and  to  appropriate  it  to  his  own  use.  In  these 
early  years  play  is  the  natural  teacher  through  which 
the  child  learns  the  world,  on  the  one  hand,  and  comes 
into  his  powers  and  capacities,  on  the  other.  There 
could  be  no  development  without  it;  it  is  the  child's 
life  and  it  brings  the  child  to  maturity.  Infancy  and 
childhood  without  play  are  inconceivable. 

The  second  period,  covering  about  six  years,  is 
one  of  fair  stability,  save  for  its  beginning  and  end, 
which  are  transition  periods, — transition  from  in- 
fancy to  childhood  and  from  childhood  to  youth, — 
but  there  are  a  few  years  of  fair  stability,  of  a  fair 
adjustment  to  the  world.  At  its  beginning  the  first 
set  of  teeth  goes  and  the  new  set  comes  in,  the  brain 
attains  its  full  growth  about  eight,  then  for  some 
four  years  the  child  is  a  fairly  complete  and  perfect 
individual  and  meets  his  environment  in  a  fairly  set- 
tled way,  till  a  new  birth  and  a  new  life  come  with 
the  dawn  of  adolescence.  In  this  period  play  should 
provide  much  and  violent  exercise,  and  must  satisfy 
a  great  variety  of  interests.  The  chief  games  are 
games  of  chase  that  make  demands  upon  the  large 
muscles  and  limbs.  The  child  now  naturally  lives  the 
life  of  a  savage,  and  is  a  fisherman,  hunter,  trapper 
and  warrior,  and  the  plays  and  games  of  the  period 
are  such  as  call  forth  these  primitive  activities. 
Among  the  games  mentioned  by  Johnson  for  this 
period  are :  hide  and  seek,  puss  in  the  corner,  hawk 
and  chicken,  tag,  dare  base,  black  man,  huntsman, 


THE   ADAPTIVE   INSTINCTS — PLAY.  101 

baseball,  archery,  jump  rope,  blind  man's  buff,  bean 
bag,  guessing  games,  dancing  and  nature  plays  and 
interests.  In  the  later  years  of  the  period,  swim- 
ming, skating,  dramatic  and  imitative  plays,  throw- 
ing, shooting,  shinney,  football  and  wrestling  in  addi- 
tion to  most  of  those  just  named  for  the  earlier  years. 

Third  Stage.  Adolescence. — With  the  coming  of 
adolescence,  our  boy  and  girl  pass  to  adulthood.  The 
social  instincts  now  become  prominent.  Each  indi- 
vidual now  tests  his  powers  and  finds  his  place; 
therefore  games  of  competition  are  numerous,  but 
at  the  same  time  group  games  that  demand  co-opera- 
tion also  grow  in  number  and  interest.  Many  of  the 
games  and  interests  of  the  preceding  years  are  con- 
tinued in  this  period,  with  increasing  prominence  of 
the  vigorous  ones  and  the  out-of-door  and  nature 
interests.  In  this  period,  as  in  the  preceding,  play 
gives  expression  to  construction,  imitation,  inquisi- 
tiveness,  curiosity,  the  gang  instinct,  and  so  on.  The 
play  spirit  appears  in  nature  work,  gardening,  col- 
lecting, getting  acquainted  with  wood  and  stream, 
i.  e.,  in  exploration,  adventure,  hunting  and  fishing. 
All  these  activities  are  essentially  play  and  provide 
for  many  aspects  of  human  nature, — the  migrating, 
collecting,  fighting  instincts  and  perhaps  others  be- 
ing allowed  to  function.  Dancing  should  be  a  form 
of  play  in  all  the  periods,  and  for  this  purpose  the 
folk  dances  and  rhythmic  group  games  should  be  re- 
vived, and  dancing  should  be  one  of  the  free  plays 
of  the  child  rather  than  a  debauched  and  degenerated 
social  performance  of  adults. 

Play  and  moral  character. — Play,  especially  in  the 
later  group  games,  is  a  great  moral  force.  Through 


102      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGT. 

these  games  the  child  learns  to  co-operate,  he  finds 
himself  by  learning  where  he  is  weak  and  where 
strong.  Sympathy  develops  and  all  the  social  fac- 
tors. The  games  of  youth  are  therefore  a  great 
socialising  force.  In  them  the  boy  learns  'team 
work' ;  he  learns  to  subordinate  himself  to  the  group. 
The  games  of  youth  are  an  excellent  preparation  for 
citizenship  in  a  democracy.  They  should,  and  under 
proper  conditions  do,  develop  bravery,  courage,  en- 
durance, steadiness  and  faithfulness. 

The  pedagogy  of  play. — The  child  will  play  to  the 
point  of  exhaustion ;  endure  hardship  and  pain  with- 
out murmur.  We  have  said  that  most  play  of  chil- 
dren is  the  expression  of  awakening  instincts,  and 
that  the  instincts  are  the  only  aspects  of  child  life  to 
which  the  teacher  can  appeal.  It  must  therefore  fol- 
low that  play  has  most  intimate  relations  to  educa- 
tion. To  illustrate :  Much  of  the  early  work  of  edu- 
cating children  consists  in  drill,  in  fixing  certain 
responses  that  we  think  desirable.  Now,  if  these 
responses  can  be  made  part  of  a  game,  can  become 
play,  a  very  desirable  end  is  then  easily  attained,  and 
we  shall  see  later  how  necessary  it  is  to  make  a 
proper  appeal  to  instincts,  for  unless  drill  is  inter- 
esting and  on  a  high  level  of  attention  it  has  little 
value.  To  become  interesting  it  must  appeal  strongly 
to  some  instinct, — in  a  word,  must  become  play.  In 
drill  work,  then,  in  automatising  the  formal  proc- 
esses, is  a  large  and  important  field  where  play  can 
be  of  great  service  to  education.  In  this  sphere  play 
is  a  mould  in  which  the  school  activities  can  be  fitted ; 
is  an  avenue,  for  the  expression  of  child  life,  through 
which  development  comes.  The  wise  teacher  is  he 


THE   ADAPTIVE   INSTINCTS — PLAY.  103 

who  can  find  in  the  child's  nature  a  motive  for  its 
work,  and  when  this  is  found  the  child  will  do  any- 
thing; without  it,  nothing  worth  while.  No  activity 
that  is  not  the  expression  of  some  part  of  child- 
nature  can  be  a  part  of  education.  And  those  activi- 
ties that  are  most  potent  in  education  are  either  play 
or  approach  play  in  spirit.  It  is  sometimes  said  that 
such  an  educational  doctrine  as  this  is  dangerous, 
that  it  means  the  making  of  "mollycoddles."  But 
this  can  not  be  true.  It  is  only  a  misapplication  of 
the  doctrine  that  does  this.  Of  course,  a  child  must 
learn  that  life  is  serious,  that  there  are  duties  to  be 
performed,  that  there  is  hard  work  to  be  done  by 
every  one  who  amounts  to  anything  in  this  world, 
and  part  of  a  child's  training  should  be  a  prepara- 
tion for  attacking  difficult  tasks  and  sticking  to  them 
till  they  are  finished.  But  a  child  will  get  this  train- 
ing best  when  he  is  moved  by  some  strong  inward 
motive  rather  than  by  outward  compulsion.  Chil- 
dren may  be  driven  by  fear  to  do  unpleasant  things, 
but  if  this  is  against  their  will  it  gives  little  training 
in  doing  unpleasant  things  of  their  own  will.  The 
greatest  work  is  always  done  by  him  whose  heart  is 
in  his  work.  The  greatest  achievements  will  always 
be  those  that  come  from  the  love  of  work,  and  when 
work  itself  is  loved  it  is  no  longer  work,  but  play. 
The  best  work  will  always  be  done  when  the  pressure 
is  from  within,  when  the  organism  is  nearest  to  its 
true,  natural  functioning,  and  this  is  the  sort  of  ac- 
tivity that  we  call  play.  It  must  not  be  thought, 
however,  that  the  school  room  is  to  be  turned  over 
to  the  whims  of  the  children.  On  the  contrary,  it 
should  always  have  as  its  guide  and  head  a  person 


104      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY. 

of  vigor  and  maturity.  This  person  can,  however, 
bring  the  children  to  the  highest  attainments  and 
development  if  he  make  proper  demands  on  native 
instincts  and  interests. 

Play  of  adults. — The  play  of  adults  is  not  essen- 
tially different  from  that  of  children.  It  is  in  the 
adult,  as  in  the  child,  the  expression  of  old  and  funda- 
mental impulses.  The  play  activity  of  adults  is  a 
sort  of  mimic  world  that  echoes  the  life  activities  of 
bygone  ages ;  it  is  a  faint  revival  of  man's  older  self, 
and  therefore  the  truest  expression  of  his  real  self 
stripped  of  the  latter  day  accretion.  This  activity 
has  for  him  an  intrinsic  pleasure  not  dependent  upon 
any  other  results.  Some  form  of  competition,  or 
other  old  individual  instinct,  is  usually  involved. 
Modern  man  has  gone  mad.  He  thinks  he  can  spend 
his  life  in  a  vain  pursuit  of  illusory  wealth  and  sup- 
press the  functioning  of  his  older,  and  therefore  most 
real,  self.  He  forgets  his  wife,  he  forgets  his  chil- 
dren, he  forgets  to  play.  He  grows  old  before  his 
time ;  he  is  dead  long  before  he  ceases  to  walk  around 
before  his  fellows.  We  must  never  give  up  playing. 
If  we  continue  to  play  and  to  associate  with  children 
and  youth,  it  will  keep  us  young  and  keep  joy  in  our 
hearts.  We  must  revive  the  social  customs  of  ancient 
Greece.  It  is  no  accident  that  the  Greeks,  the  great- 
est of  all  men,  played  most  of  all  men.  The  annual 
festivals  and  the  Olympiads,  bringing  all  Greece  to- 
gether in  mental  and  physical  play,  had  much  to  do 
with  her  glory.  Even  our  universities  are  forgetting 
their  function,  for  they  do  not  teach  their  students  to 
play.  A  football  *  el  even'  and  a  baseball  'nine'  about 
exhaust  their  capacity,  although  there  are  thousands 


THE   ADAPTIVE   INSTINCTS — PLAY.  105 

of  students  in  attendance.  Long  walks  and  excur- 
sions and  games  should  be  part  of  the  daily  life  of 
every  student.  But  instead  of  this,  the  author  finds 
some  of  his  students  so  degenerate  physically  that  a 
few  extra  tasks  send  them  to  the  hospital. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOB  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  Make  out  a  complete  list  of  the  games  and  plays  that  yon 
engaged  in  as  a  child  and  youth.     Indicate  those  that  you  liked 
most,  and  point  out  the  aspect  of  the  game  or  play  that  seemed  to 
be  the  source  of  pleasure.    Do  you  find  a  development  or  succession 
in  the  plays?    Were  there  plays  that  you  liked  very  much  at  one 
time,  and  later  did  not  care  for?    Interpret  what  you  find. 

2.  What  theory  or  theories  best  account  for  the  facts  of  your 
own  play  experience?    Do  you  find  some  facts  supporting  each  of 
the  theories? 

3.  Give  the  experience  that  you  have  had  as  a  teacher  in  con- 
trolling play  on  the  school  grounds ;  if  not  a  teacher,  give  your 
experience  as  a  pupil. 

4.  Give  data  showing  the  good  effects  of  the  proper  kind  of  adult 
control  of  the  play  of  children ;  give  illustrations  showing  the  bad 
effects  of  the  wrong  sort  of  control. 

5.  What  is  your  experience  with  high-school  athletics?     What 
is  there  good  and  what  bad  in  them  as  now  conducted?     Should 
high  schools  have  teams  of  various  kinds  and  play  neighboring 
teams?    What  are  the  facts  that  bear  upon  this  question? 

6.  Can  you  cite  a  case  showing  that  muscle  development  is  not 
necessary  for  brain  development?     Be  sure  of  your  facts,  and  be 
careful   in  taking  the  statements  of  biographers  concerning  the 
early  life  of  eminent  men.    As  a  rule,  little  is  known  of  the  early 
life  of  great  men. 

7.  How  does  the  farm  compare  with  the  city  in  supplying  facili- 
ties for  activity?     Compare  the  conditions  and  the  results  of  the 
two  types  of  environment. 

8.  Can  artificial   and  mechanical  indoor  activities  completely 
take  the  place  of  outdoor  play?    What  seems  to  be  the  difference? 

9  Carefully  collect  statistics  of  school  children  for  the  purpose 
of  determining  differences  in  regard  to  play  activities.     For  ex- 
ample, make  a  study  of  KO  children  that  do  not  care  to  play ^and  that 
do  not  take  much  exercise,  nnd  compare  them  with  50  other  chil- 
dren that  like  play  and  that  take  abundant  exercise.    What  con- 
clusions come  from  your  stndv? 

10  Compare  the  very  poorest  pupils  in  a  schoolroom  with  the 
Terr  best  in  regard  to  their  play  and  work  activities. 

11  Is  play  activity  necessary  for  development,  or  will  work 


106      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY. 

activity  do  just  as  well?    Discuss  every  aspect  of  the  question. 
Take  especial  account  of  the  feeling  aspect  of  work  and  play. 

12.  Is  it  natural  for  older  people  to  care  less  for  play  than  do 
children?    Do  you  think  it  advisable  for  adults  in  America  to  play 
more  than  they  now  do?    Why? 

13.  What  do  you  think  of  football  and  baseball  as  forms  of 
activity  for  high-school  boys? 

14.  Do  you  think  it  advisable  for  boys  and  girls  to  play  together 
throughout  childhood  and  youth?    What  are  the  facts  to  be  con- 
sidered here? 

15.  Compare  girls  that  like  outdoor  play  and  vigorous  exercise, 
including  play  with  boys,  with  girls  that  do  not  play  with  boys  and 
do  not  care  much  for  vigorous  play — the  girls  that  do  their  hair 
up  on  the  top  of  their  heads  and  consider  themselves  women. 

16.  Rank  the  pupils  of  a  school  room  from  the  best  to  the  poor- 
est in  school  studies.    What  do  you  find  in  regard  to  the  play  of 
the  two  halves  of  the  group? 

17.  Spend  a  day  watching  children  play,  comparing  the  play  of 
children  of  different  ages.    What  differences  do  you  find  as  to  what 
they  play  and  the  manner  of  playing? 

18.  Is  there  any  danger  that  children  that  play  a  great  deal  will 
come  to  like  play  only  and  dislike  work? 

19.  Is  a  teacher  to  try  to  make  play  out  of  everything?    Should 
a  teacher  make  a  sharp  distinction  between  play  and  work?    Why? 

20.  If  a  child  is  deprived  of  the  proper  amount  and  variety  of 
play  as  a  child,  is  it  possible  to  make  up  for  this  later  in  life? 

21.  Show  that  what  is  play  for  one  may  be  work  for  another, 
considering  singing,' playing  musical  instruments,  mathematics,  etc. 

22.  In  what  phase  of  school   work  is  play  most  applicable? 
Show  how  it  may  be  used  in  various  studies. 

23.  Should  teachers  act  as  police  on  the  playground,  or  should 
they  take  part  in  the  plays  and  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  pupils? 
Why? 

24.  How  should  a  teacher  deal  with  a  child  that  does  not  care 
for  play,  but  wishes  to  sit  around  and  read  all  the  time? 

25.  Sometimes  young  children  enjoy  work  better  than  older 
children.    Why  is  this? 

26.  Which  has  played  the  greater  part  in  the  achievements  of 
man,  the  play  spirit  and  mere  curiosity,  or  necessity?    Collect  facts 
for  the  answer  of  this  question. 

REFERENCES. 

Kirkpatrick,  Fundamentals  of  Child  Study,  p.  147;  G.  Stanley 
Hall,  Adolescence,  Ch.  iii;  Youth,  Ch.  vi;  H.  H.  Donaldson,  The 
Growth  of  the  Brain,  Ch.  xviii ;  J.  M.  Taylor,  Motor  Education  for 
the  Child,  in  Popular  Science  Monthly,  Vol.  Ixxviii,  p.  268 ;  A.  F. 
Chamberlain,  The  Child,  1901,  Ch.  ii,  an  excellent  chapter ;  L.  H. 
Gulick,  The  Psychological,  Pedagogical  and  Religious  Aspects  of 
Group  Games,  in  Pedagogical  Seminary,  Vol.  vi,  p.  135 ;  Some  Psy- 


THE   ADAPTIVE   INSTINCTS — PLAT.  107 

chical  Aspects  of  Muscular  Exercise,  in  Popular  Science  Monthly, 
Vol.  liii,  p.  793 ;  The  Healthful  Art  of  Dancing,  1910 ;  The  Efficient 
Life,  1907 ;  G.  E.  Johnson,  Education  l>y  Plays  and  Games,  1907 ;  K. 
Groos,  The  Play  of  Animals,  1898 ;  The  Play  of  Man,  1901 ;  W.  P. 
Bowen,  The  Mechanics  of  Bodily  Exercise,  1909 ;  N.  B.  Lamkin, 
Play:  Its  Value  and  Fifty  Games,  1907 ;  E.  B.  Mero,  American  Play- 
grounds, 1908 ;  A.  Leland,  Playground  Technique  and  Playcraft, 
1909 ;  L.  E.  Appleton,  A  Comparative  Study  of  the  Play  Activities 
of  Adult  Savages  and  Civilized  Children,  1910;  J.  W.  Dinsmore, 
Teaching  a  District  School,  with  a  Supplement  on  Playtime,  1910 ; 
M.  B.  Newton,  Graded  Games  and  Rhythmic  Exercises,  1909;  G. 
Sisson,  Children's  Play,  in  Barnes'  Studies  in  Education,  Vol.  i,  p. 
171 ;  H.  D.  Sheldon,  Institutional  Activities  of  American  Children, 
in  American  Journal  of  Psych.,  Vol.  ix,  p.  425 ;  J.  H.  Chase,  Street 
Games  of  New  York  City,  in  Pedagogical  Seminary,  Vol.  xii,  p.  503 ; 
G.  Dudley  and  F.  A.  Kellor,  Athletic  Games  for  Women,  1909;  L. 
Beard  and  A.  B.  Beard,  Recreations  for  Girls,  1908 ;  C.  W.  Cramp- 
ton,  The  Folk  Dance  Book,  1909;  C.  Crawford,  Folk  Dances  and 
Games,  1908 ;  B.  R.  Parsons,  Plays  and  Games,  1909. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  ADAPTIVE  INSTINCTS— IMITATION. 

Description  and  definition. — The  phenomenon  of 
imitation  is  but  a  special  manifestation  of  a  funda- 
mental principle  of  organic  matter,  i.  e.,  the  prin- 
ciple of  stimulus  going  over  into  response;  in  tho 
higher  animals,  perception  going  over  into  action. 
Stimulus  has  no  meaning  apart  from  response ;  sen- 
sation has  no  meaning  apart  from  action.  The  only 
reason  that  one  should  have  sensation  is  that  one 
may  be  able  to  respond  to  the  environment.  In  the 
case  of  imitative  movements,  the  response  is  more  or 
less  like  the  stimulus,  more  or  less  like  the  source  of 
sensation  calling  it  forth.  Natural  selection  has  de- 
veloped this  form  of  action,  just  as  it  has  developed 
all  other  inherited  forms.  There  is  no  reason  in 
nature  why  any  sort  of  response  should  not  be 
coupled  with  any  sort  of  stimulus.  That  a  large 
number  of  the  responses  of  children  reproduce  the 
stimuli  of  the  environment,  i.  e.,  are  imitative,  is  a 
matter  of  heredity,  and  therefore  this  particular 
form  of  activity  is  considered  to  be  instinctive.  Ow- 
ing to  the  peculiar  circular  nature  of  imitative  action, 
Baldwin  defines  it  as  that  reaction  that  tends  to  main- 
tain or  repeat  its  own  stimulating  process.  This  is 
especially  evident  in  the  imitation  of  sounds.  The 
young  child  will  repeat  the  same  sound  over  and  over 
again  for  many  minutes  at  a  time,  each  sound  being 

[108] 


THE   ADAPTIVE   INSTINCTS — IMITATION.  109 

the  stimulus  for  the  production  of  the  next  one.  But 
it  makes  no  difference  what  the  sensory  source  of  the 
perception  may  be — although  it  is  usually  sight  or 
sound — the  perception  of  the  movement  calls  forth 
the  same  sort  of  movement;  there  is  a  resemblance 
between  stimulus  and  response,  and  therefore  in 
many  cases  the  response  may  serve  as  a  new  stimulus 
to  call  forth  a  similar  response.  The  continuation  of 
the  circular  process  is  not,  however,  necessary  to  this 
form  of  action,  nor  does  it  always  take  place.  The 
essential  characteristic  that  differentiates  this  form 
of  inherited  response  is  just  this  resemblance  be- 
tween the  animal's  response  and  the  objective  means 
of  calling  it  forth.  A  chicken  hears  a  hawk  and  darts 
under  cover.  This  is  a  matter  of  heredity,  of  the 
individualistic  instinct  of  fear.  A  child  sees  an  older 
person  put  on  a  hat ;  it  then  takes  a  hat  and  puts  it 
on  its  own  head.  This  is  also  a  matter  of  heredity; 
we  say  it  is  due  to  the  instinct  of  imitation. 

Psychological  explanation. — The  phenomenon  of 
imitation  is  easily  understood  when  we  recall  the  fact 
that  the  idea  of  a  movement  tends  to  call  forth  the 
movement,  and  will  usually  do  so  unless  there  is  some 
inhibiting  idea  or  sensory  stimulus.  In  the  early 
years  of  life  the  connection  between  idea  and  re- 
sponse is  unusually  close  and  direct;  the  lesson  of 
inactivity  is  not  yet  learned.  The  perception  of 
movement  functions  immediately  to  call  forth  a  simi- 
lar movement,  or  a  movement  that  serves  to  produce 
the  same  effect  for  sensation. 

Imitation  in  lower  animals. — Among  the  lower  ani- 
mals, particularly  below  the  primates,  there  is  little 
imitation.  Their  acts  are  the  inherited  responses 


110      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY. 

that  fit  all  the  particular  phases  of  the  environment, 
or  the  result  of  the  modification  of  these  responses 
by  experience.  Their  responses  are  definite  and  im- 
mediate. It  has  not  been  necessary  for  these  animals 
to  imitate  in  order  to  get  on  in  the  world.  The  vc  ry 
character  of  their  mentality  is  to  some  extent  a  Lar 
to  the  calling  forth  of  similar  responses  by  the  per- 
ception of  a  movement.  They  do  not  seem  to  have 
free  ideas  which  are  essential  to  many  forms  of  imi- 
tation. The  perception  of  a  movement  made  by  an- 
other being  has  not,  in  many  cases,  developed  into 
the  character  of  a  stimulus  for  the  same  kind  of 
movement  or  movement  producing  the  same  sensory 
effect.  Moreover,  even  if  psychologically  possible, 
imitation  is  not  physically  so,  for  not  many  animals 
live  with  their  parents  long  enough  to  learn  much 
from  them  by  imitation,  and  therefore  their  re- 
sponses must  be  ready  made  and  definite.  Finally, 
experiments  prove  that  the  animals  below  man  do 
not  learn  much  by  imitation ;  possibly  only  the  very 
highest  can  learn  at  all  in  this  way.  As  Spalding 
points  out,  chickens  may  live  continually  with  tur- 
keys, but  do  not  learn  the  more  efficient  turkey 
method  of  catching  flies.  In  certain  animals  of  a 
social  nature  natural  selection  has  developed  a  sort 
of  reflex  imitation.  The  fact  is  that  imitation  is  pre- 
eminently a  phenomenon  of  infancy  and  infancy  is 
essentially  a  human  characteristic.  Only  the  young 
of  the  human  race  have  a  long  period  of  helplessness, 
during  which  the  primitive  instincts  are  moulded  and 
modified  into  permanent  life-adjustments.  Only  a 
long  period  of  plastic  infancy  could  make  it  possible 
for  imitation  to  play  an  important  role  in  develop- 


THE   ADAPTIVE   INSTINCTS — IMITATION.  Ill 

ment.  Therefore,  infancy  and  imitation  are  related 
facts,  and  with  the  prolonging  of  human  infancy, 
together  with  the  fact  that  this  infancy  is  spent  with 
the  parents  in  a  family  group,  imitation  has  conie 
to  be,  perhaps,  the  most  important  factor  in  acquire- 
ment of  permanent  adjustments. 

Function  and  importance  of  imitation. — (1)  As  a 
means  of  adaptation.  Normally  the  child  lives  with 
its  parents  for  at  least  one-fourth  of  its  life,  and  sees 
done  practically  all  the  things  that  it  will  ever  have 
to  do.  Nature  has  so  developed  it  that  the  sight  of 
an  act  performed  by  the  parents  or  elders  serves  as 
a  stimulus  for  doing  the  same  thing,  and  this  is  the 
basis  of  most  that  the  child  learns  to  do.  Therefore 
imitation  becomes  of  enormous  importance  not  only 
during  the  period  of  development,  but  all  through 
life ;  it  is  one  of  the  means  by  which  every  new  indi- 
vidual becomes  adapted  or  adjusted.  (2)  As  a  means 
of  interpretation.  Royce  has  pointed  out  that  imita- 
tion is  a  means  of  interpretation,  serving  to  interpret 
the  acts  of  another.  It  is  only  by  repeating,  ourselves, 
the  acts  of  another  that  we  can  know  how  the  other 
person  feels  or  what  his  purpose  is.  Observation 
shows  that  there  is  usually  a  tendency  to  do  what  one 
sees  another  do,  and  particularly  is  this  true  in  the 
case  of  the  young.  This  fact  is  the  secret  of  learning 
elocution,  music,  and  all  the  arts  of  expression.  We 
must  do  another  person's  act  and  say  his  words; 
then  we  have  his  point  of  view.  To  some  extent  we 
become  the  other  person.  Therefore,  imitation 
serves  the  double  purpose  of  adaptation  and  inter- 
pretation. 

Development  of  imitation.  —  Imitation  begins  in 


112      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY. 

the  latter  part  of  the  child's  first  year  as  mere  sen- 
sory responses,  made  for  the  pleasure  only,  with  no 
conscious  end  in  view.  But  its  development  is  rapid, 
and  it  performs  a  larger  and  larger  function,  till  in 
the  second  year  it  becomes  purposive;  that  is,  the 
child  tries  to  accomplish  what  the  elder  person  does, 
by  using  the  same  means.  At  first,  then,  imitation  is 
largely  blind  and  reflex;  the  child  immediately  and 
directly  does  what  he  sees  done.  Then  there  comes 
a  gradual  growth  in  complexity,  due  in  part  to  the 
general  mental  development,  from  perceptual  to 
ideational,  from  crude  reproductions  of  the  activity 
and  life  about,  to  elaborate  and  exact  reproductions 
of  this  life  and  activity.  In  early  imitation  the  child 
is  satisfied  with  imperfect  representations  of  the  life 
and  activity  about,  but  later  he  tries  to  reproduce 
the  imitated  activities  with  much  exactness  as  to  set- 
ting and  all  the  details.  Moreover,  the  social  element 
enters  and  serves  to  extend  the  field  of  imitation. 
Even  a  brief  study  of  children  will  afford  abundant 
illustration  of  the  evolution  of  imitation  in  the  indi- 
vidual. For  example:  a  straight  stick  will  at  first 
suffice  for  a  horse,  and  performs  the  functions  of  a 
horse  in  the  child's  play,  but  as  the  child  grows  older 
he  tries  to  make  his  play  horse  approach  nearer  and 
nearer  to  the  likeness  of  a  real  horse.  Also,  in  the 
imitation  of  adult  social  activities,  the  development 
is  plain :  at  first  in  a  play  tea  party  the  crudest  rep- 
resentations will  suffice,  but  when  the  child  grows 
older  the  dishes  and  food  and  all  the  attendant  cir- 
cumstances must  approximate  those  which  are 
proper  in  a  tea  party  of  adults. 
Education  and  imitation. — (I)  Basis  of  education. 


THE   ADAPTIVE   INSTINCTS — IMITATION.  113 

Imitation,  with  imitative  play,  performs  an  important 
function  in  education,  and  with  the  possible  exception 
of  play  is  by  far  the  most  important  single  factor. 
Let  us,  for  example,  consider  the  boy  on  the  farm. 
He  learns  how  to  harness  horses,  hitch  them  up,  feed 
them,  how  to  plow  and  do  all  the  other  things  that  are 
done  on  the  farm,  including  the  manipulation  of  farm 
tools  and  machinery,  chiefly  by  imitation.  In  like 
manner,  the  girl  in  the  home  learns  how  to  cook  and 
sew  and  perform  the  various  duties  about  the  house 
chiefly  by  imitation.  We  learn  to  speak  our  native 
tongue  almost  entirely  by  imitation,  and  there  is  con- 
sequently a  close  resemblance  between  the  speech  of 
parent  and  child.  Mechanics  and  even  professional 
men  learn  their  trades  and  professions  largely  by 
imitation.  In  the  school  room,  too,  imitation  rightly 
plays  an  important  role:  in  learning  methods  of 
solving  problems,  in  grammar  and  language,  in  writ- 
ing, drawing,  singing  and  in  reading, — in  everything 
that  has  an  expression  or  doing  side, — it  is  an  impor- 
tant factor.  Especially  is  it  important  in  making  a 
beginning,  in  acquiring  the  rudiments  of  a  subject. 
At  first,  we  can  only  imitate;  later  we  can  have  a 
little  originality.  In  our  study  of  habits  we  shall  see 
how  important  imitation  is.  Whenever  a  child  has 
to  learn  and  perfect  a  new  skilful  act,  it  is  economical 
for  the  teacher  to  demonstrate  the  precise  nature  of 
the  act,  showing  the  child  the  exact  steps  of  the 
process.  Teachers  do  not  sufficiently  realise  how 
completely  imitative  are  the  acts  of  the  child  and  how 
little  of  reason  and  of  thought  there  is  in  them.  The 
child  has  this  capacity  for  learning  and  adjustment 
long  before  reason  can  function  to  any  great  extent, 


114      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY. 

and  instead  of  wasting  time  trying  to  appeal  to  rea- 
son when  there  is  no  reason,  the  teacher  should  avail 
himself  of  this  capacity  for  learning  that  functions 
from  the  early  months  of  childhood.  Moreover,  there 
is  no  need  for  reason  in  the  great  portion  of  early 
adjustments,  for  they  are  in  most  part  merely  a 
mechanical  adjustment  to  our  physical  and  social 
surroundings,  those  that  natural  selection  has  sifted 
out  as  necessary  for  our  social  life,  and  all  that  is 
required  is  that  the  child  should  come  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible into  this  social  heritage.  Why  should  the  child 
reason  in  these  matters?  Even  if  our  adjustments 
are  not  the  best  possible,  the  child  is  certainly  not 
able  to  sit  as  a  critic  in  the  matter  and  choose  his 
course  of  action.  He  must  more  or  less  blindly  take 
on  such  forms  of  adjustment  as  are  already  in  exist- 
ence. In  fact,  for  the  young,  the  only  other  mode  of 
learning  that  can  function  much  is  the  trial  and  suc- 
cess method,  and  the  latter  is  not  usually  so  econom- 
ical as  the  former,  though,  of  course,  economy  is  not 
always  the  most  important  thing  to  consider.  Both 
of  these  methods  are  functioning  from  the  very  be- 
ginning. The  trial  and  success  method  serves  to  cor- 
rect what  might  be  the  extreme  results  of  learning 
by  imitation.  Certainly  in  the  acquirement  of  any 
skill  imitation  is  often  the  most  important  factor. 
Correct  speech  is  a  matter  of  example  and  imitation 
much  more  than  of  rules  and  precepts;  so  also  are 
manners  and  morals.  Our  children  pay  much  more 
attention  to  what  we  do  than  to  what  we  say.  Imita- 
tion has  much  to  do  with  order  and  discipline  in  the 
school  room.  The  cross  and  ugly-tempered  teacher 
is  likely  to  have  a  cross  and  ugly  school.  In  learning 


THE   ADAPTIVE   INSTINCTS — IMITATION.  115 

to  read,  perhaps  as  much  as  anywhere  else,  the  value 
of  imitation  is  apparent.  A  child  should  hear  much 
good  reading  both  at  home  and  at  school,  and  fortu- 
nate is  the  child  whose  mother  and  teacher  are  good 
readers.  A  mother  should  read  to  her  children  from 
the  time  when  they  are  able  to  sit  on  her  knee  and 
listen,  and  when  the  children  are  older  and  go  to 
school  the  teacher  should  read  much,  very  much,  to 
them.  If  the  teacher  is  not  a  good  reader  and  a  good 
story-teller,  then  he  should  not  be  a  teacher. 

(2)  Our  social  inheritance.    Imitation  is  the  means 
by  which  we  come  into  our  social  heritage.    Our  be- 
liefs, customs,  morals,  religion,  traditions,  language, 
social  relations,  as  we  have  already  seen,  come  in 
large  measure  through  imitation.    Since  without  this 
social  heritage  we  should  not  rise  above  primitive, 
uncivilised,  savage  life,  the  significance  of  imitation 
is  immediately  apparent,  and  it  is  seen  that  as  a 
means  of  transmitting  the  acquirements  of  civilisa- 
tion it  becomes  one  of  the  most  important  factors  of 
early  education.    The  forms  and  moulds  of  civilised 
life,  the  more  or  less  mechanical  and  automatic  re- 
sponses that  we  have  as  members  of  society,  we  take 
on  unconsciously  by  imitating  those  about  us,  as  we 
also  take  on  an  habitual  attitude  toward  social  insti- 
tutions.   Imitation  is  the  mechanism  of  social  hered- 
ity, and  it  is  social  heredity  that  constitutes  our  civi- 
lisation. 

(3)  As  a  means  of  interpretation,  imitation  has 
almost  as  important  educational  significance.     To 
illustrate :  in  the  study  of  literature,  history  and  the 
manners  and  customs  of  different  peoples,  dramatic 
imitation  becomes  a  key  to  unlock  what  would  other- 


116      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY. 

wise  remain  hidden,  and  from  the  first  grade  to  the 
twelfth  the  teacher  should  make  use  of  this  means  of 
interpreting  the  life  of  other  people  and  of  other 
times.  By  acting  out  and  reproducing  a  piece  of 
literature  or  historical  event  the  pupil  makes  it  real, 
makes  it  live  again,  while  otherwise  it  usually  re- 
mains a  dead,  unreal  fact.  Through  dramatisation 
the  fact  really  comes  within  the  pupil's  experience. 
This  point  of  view  emphasises  the  doing  aspect  of 
education.  What  the  child  does  is  no  longer  some- 
thing foreign,  but  becomes  a  part  of  the  child.  The 
pupil  that  has  acted  Miles  Standish,  or  Hamlet,  or 
Caesar,  or  Jupiter,  has  a  new  relation  to  these  char- 
acters, for  in  a  sense  he  has  been  Hamlet,  Standish, 
Caesar  or  Jupiter.  The  theater  may  some  day  be  an 
important  part  of  the  school,  a  place  for  dance  and 
song  and  play,  a  place  where  life  is  presented  to  the 
children,  and  where  they  give  expression  to  their  own 
ideas  and  conceptions  of  life,  a  place  where  the  past 
and  present  meet,  where  the  past  becomes  the  pres- 
ent through  the  actions  of  the  children. 

School  management  and  imitation.  —  The  phe- 
nomena of  imitation  have  an  important  bearing  on 
school  management.  (1)  The  teacher.  The  character 
and  temperament  of  the  teacher  are  important,  even 
his  looks  and  health  and  manners.  The  teacher's 
attitude  and  enthusiasm  toward  the  different  studies 
are  contagious  and  readily  affect  the  children,  while 
if  the  teacher  dislike  a  subject  and  shows  an  aver- 
sion to  it,  the  pupils  reflect  this  attitude.  The 
teacher's  scholarship  and  intellectual  integrity 
should  be  high  and  unimpeachable;  his  earnestness 
and  accuracy  in  his  work,  his  regard  for  truth,  can 


THE   ADAPTIVE   INSTINCTS — IMITATION.  117 

not  be  too  great.  And  if  lie  is  to  do  Ms  work  well 
and  stand  the  great  strain  of  his  profession,  he  must 
be  a  man  of  good  health  and  strong  body ;  his  sense 
organs  and  all  other  important  organs  of  his  body 
should  have  the  very  highest  functional  capacity. 
He  should  have  no  defects  or  deformities.  The  men 
that  society  selects  for  the  teachers  of  the  young 
should  be  the  highest  types  physically  and  mentally 
that  the  race  affords.  Not  only  must  they  be  free 
from  physical  defects,  but  must  have  no  oddities  or 
peculiarities  of  manner  or  of  speech.  In  these  mat- 
ters they  should  be  typical  of  their  time  and  the 
people  among  whom  they  work.  It  is  a  common- 
place, but  none  the  less  true,  that  the  school  reflects 
the  teacher.  (2)  The  children.  The  small  minority 
of  children  that  are  deformed,  defective  and  deficient, 
with  nervous  disorders,  defects  of  speech,  incor- 
rigibles,  should  be  removed  from  the  normal  ma- 
jority for  the  good  of  all,  not  only  of  the  normal  chil- 
dren, but  for  their  own  best  good.  There  is  just  as 
much  reason  for  removing  them  as  there  is  for  re- 
moving from  the  school  those  children  that  have  con- 
tagious diseases ;  for,  on  account  of  imitation,  these 
characteristics  are  contagious  and  affect  the  whole 
school.  Through  imitation  —  largely  reflex  —  these 
affections  spread  and  demoralise  the  whole  school. 
One  bad,  disorderly  boy  can  ruin  a  whole  day's  work 
at  school,  sometimes  a  whole  term's  work.  Stam- 
mering, stuttering  and  other  nervous  disorders  are 
taken  up  by  many  of  the  children  in  a  room.  Even 
poor  work  and  bad  scholarship  are  contagious.  There- 
fore there  is  abundant  reason  for  segregating  those 
children  that  deviate  considerably  from  the  normal. 


118      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY. 

Not  only  is  this  to  be  recommended  for  the  good  of 
those  normal  children  that  would  be  badly  affected 
by  their  influence,  but  it  should  be  done  in  order  to 
supply  the  proper  sort  of  training  for  those  that 
deviate.  In  the  graded  schools  this  is  practicable 
and  is  already  successfully  done,  but  in  the  rural 
schools  it  does  not  seem  to  be  practicable  without 
sending  the  defective  child  away  from  his  home,  and 
this  does  not  seem  advisable  unless  the  defect  is 
extreme,  such  as  deafness,  blindness  or  other  de- 
fect that  renders  him  unfit  to  receive  training  from 
the  ordinary  teacher. 

Contrary  suggestion. — An  interesting  phenomenon 
of  imitation  is  that  of  contrary  suggestion.  This 
phenomenon  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  other 
facts  of  imitation,  and  is  merely  a  matter  of  the  idea 
of  an  act  calling  forth  the  act.  However,  there  may 
sometimes  be  another  element  involved  which  is 
probably  a  manifestation  of  the  fighting  instinct, 
possibly  of  the  instinct  of  curiosity.  In  certain  chil- 
dren, and  perhaps  sometimes  in  the  early  life  of  all 
children,  the  suggestion  of  some  line  of  action  serves 
to  call  forth  a  contrary  action.  If  the  child  is  told 
to  eat  a  certain  kind  of  food,  then  he  will  not  eat  it, 
but  if  he  be  told  not  to  eat  it,  he  will  eat  it.  It  is 
therefore  a  dangerous  procedure  to  show  bad  ex- 
amples and  call  the  attention  of  children  to  what  they 
should  not  do  or  should  not  be.  The  danger  lies  in 
the  fact  that  the  example  serves  as  a  stimulus,  in 
accordance  with  the  general  law  of  imitation,  to  call 
forth  the  action  in  question,  and  this  stimulus  is 
stronger  than  the  inhibiting  force  of  the  teacher's 
or  parent's  warning  not  to  do  the  thing  in  question. 


THE   ADAPTIVE   INSTINCTS — IMITATION.  119 

No  general  rule,  however,  can  be  laid  down  to  cover 
this  matter;  much  depends  on  the  manner  in  which 
the  example  is  shown  and  on  the  temperament  of  the 
children  in  question.  Parents  ought  soon  to  know  how 
to  deal  with  their  own  children  in  this  regard,  but 
a  teacher  can  not  know  the  children  so  well,  and, 
besides,  they  are  widely  different.  Teachers  often 
bring  much  trouble  upon  themselves  by  forbidding 
children  to  do  things  that  they  might  never  think  of 
doing  if  they  were  not  suggested  to  them.  A  case  that 
once  was  brought  to  the  author's  attention  will  illus- 
trate the  point :  A  new  teacher  came  into  a  country 
district  and  on  the  first  day  told  the  boys  that  they 
must  not  climb  on  top  of  a  shed  that  stood  in  the 
school  yard.  They  had  never  in  all  the  years  that  the 
shed  had  been  there  thought  of  getting  on  top  of  it, 
but  now,  before  the  end  of  the  day,  they  all  got  up 
there  and  tore  the  shed  down.  It  seems  that  the  for- 
bidding of  a  certain  act  sometimes  not  only  calls 
especial  attention  to  the  act,  but  arouses  the  fighting 
spirit  of  the  child  and  serves  as  a  tantalizing  stimu- 
lus which  can  hardly  be  resisted. 

Children's  ideals.— Our  consideration  of  imitation 
leads  us  to  the  general  question  of  children's  ideals. 
There  are  in  general  three  sources  for  these  ideals : 
(1)  the  characters  of  literature,  (2)  the  characters  of 
history,  and  (3)  living  characters  which  the  child 
may  know  personally  or  through  his  reading.  The 
influence  of  the  characters  of  the  different  groups  is 
different  for  different  children  and  in  different 
periods  of  the  life  of  the  same  child.  Many  experi- 
mental and  statistical  studies  have  been  made  to 
Jearn  the  facts  concerning  the  ideals  of  children  and 


120      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY. 

their  development.  Some  important  results  have 
come  out  of  the  studies.  Perhaps  the  most  important 
is  this :  The  sort  of  character  of  either  literature  or 
history  that  appeals  to  a  child  as  a  model  for  imita- 
tion depends  on  the  stage  of  development  of  the 
child.  Throughout  childhood  and  youth,  however, 
the  character  that  appeals  to  boys  especially  is  the 
character  of  action,  —  the  warrior,  the  hunter, 
the  Indian  fighter,  the  fisherman,  the  man  of 
the  woods.  The  boy  cares  little  for  the  man 
of  mere  static  or  negative  goodness.  Therefore 
the  literature  that  should  be  brought  to  the 
attention  of  boys  is  that  which  presents  to  them 
a  sturdy  life  of  vigor  and  endurance.  The  he- 
roes of  history  should  be  familiar  to  every  boy 
almost  before  he  can  read.  On  his  mother's  knee  the 
American  boy  should  hear  of  Washington,  Franklin, 
Lincoln,  and  all  the  great  generals  and  sailors  that 
have  made  our  country's  history.  Deeds  of  valor 
and  heroism,  especially  deeds  of  patriotism,  should 
be  made  familiar  to  every  child.  The  story  of  the 
early  pioneers  and  all  the  stirring  events  of  our 
country's  early  history  should  be  told  to  the  young 
children.  In  their  early  years  these  characters  have 
an  influence  on  them  that  they  will  not  have  later. 

In  the  child's  own  surroundings  it  is  the  active  and 
vigorous  that  appeals  to  him.  He  likes  to  watch  the 
carpenter,  the  bricklayer,  the  ditch-digger,  the  black- 
smith,— any  one  who  is  achieving  something.  It  is 
well  that  this  is  so,  and  we  should  provide  the  means 
for  the  child  to  imitate  these  workmen, — means  in 
the  form  of  carpenters'  tools  and  work  bench  and 
gardens.  As  children  grow  older  the  field  from  which 


THE   ADAPTIVE   INSTINCTS — IMITATION.  121 

they  choose  their  ideals  is  extended  to  all  time  and 
all  countries.  Parents  and  teachers  in  guiding  the 
reading  for  children  should  always  have  the  matter 
of  ideals  in  mind,  and  should  often  discuss  with  the 
children  the  nature  of  the  characters  of  their  reading 
and  draw  from  them  their  ideas  and  conclusions, 
without  too  much  preaching.  It  should  be  one  of  the 
main  functions  of  the  high  school  to  unlock  the  great 
treasures  of  literature  for  the  pupils,  and  it  has  not 
done  its  duty  if  it  allows  a  child  to  leave  school  with- 
out being  familiar  with  Hamlet,  Othello,  Macbeth  and 
all  the  greatest  creations  of  literary  art. 

The  facts  of  imitation  make  it  clear  that  teachers, 
particularly  the  teachers  of  boys,  should  be  strong, 
vigorous  men ;  vigorous  and  manly  in  mind  as  well  as 
in  body ;  not  weakly,  lazy,  effeminate,  insipid  young 
men,  but  men  of  maturity,  intensely  patriotic  and  full 
of  our  country's  history  and  literature.  Girls  might 
very  well  have  such  teachers,  too,  but  not  altogether. 
Investigation  reveals  the  curious  fact  that  girls 
usually  choose  male  ideals,  and  this  is  not  fortunate 
nor  auspicious  for  our  future.  It  may  be  all  right 
for  the  girl  in  her  early  years  to  have  about  the  same 
ideals  as  the  boys,  but  certainly  later  her  models 
should  be  the  world 's  great  women,  and  this  includes 
her  own  faithful  mother  and  grandmother,  with 
their  lives  of  honest  toil  and  good  old-fashioned  ways 
and  notions  of  work  and  morals  and  true  integrity. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  Give  several  illustrations  to  show  that  imitation  functions 
to  interpret  the  environment  and  to  adapt  the  Individual  to  th« 
environment. 

2.  Carefully  observe  children  of  different  ages,  noting  and  com- 


122      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY. 

paring  their  imitative  acts.    How  early  in  the  child's  life  does  the 
first  imitative  act  appear? 

3.  Have  you  ever  observed  imitation  in  domestic  animals?    If 
so,  make  an  accurate  report  of  it 

4.  Make  out  a  list  of  acts  that  you  have  learned  by  imitation. 
How  does  it  compare  with  the  things  that  you  have  learned  to  do 
in  other  ways? 

5.  Point  out  the  part  played  by  imitation  in  learning  arithmetic, 
reading,  writing,  spelling,  language,  style  in  composition,  history, 
geography,  manners  and  morals,  and  in  one's  religion  and  politics. 
State  whether  your  religion  is  the  same  as  that  of  your  parents. 

6.  Compare  the  imitative  activities  of  children  of  various  ages 
to  determine  what  aspect  of  the  life  about  them  they  imitate.    Try 
to  trace  out  the  development  of  imitation  from  childhood  to  late 
adolescence  from  your  own  observation. 

7.  Make  out  a  list  of  all  the  teachers  you  had  in  the  public 
school,  and  indicate  to  what  extent  you  imitated  each,  and  what 
aspect  of  their  lives  you  imitated.     Were  there  any  that  you  en- 
deavored especially  not  to  imitate? 

8.  Can  you  cite  cases  in  which  a  bad  parent  or  teacher  was  the 
cause  of  children  leading  an  upright  life ;  that  is,  a  case  in  which  a 
bad  example  was  the  cause  of  good  action?    If  there  are  such  cases, 
how  can  they  be  explained? 

9.  If  you  have  been  a  teacher,  to  what  extent  did  you  imitate 
In  the  early  part  of  your  teaching? 

10.  Has  some  older  person — parent,  teacher  or  friend — had  a 
profound  influence  on  your  life?     If  so,  write  an  account  of  it, 
giving  details  as  to  the  nature  of  the  person  and  the  amount  and 
kind  of  influence. 

11.  Discuss  coeducation  from  the  point  of  view  of  imitation. 
Treat  of  elementary,  high  school  and  college  education. 

12.  Have  you  ever  had  an  ideal  in  history  or  literature  that  has 
influenced  your  life  ?  Who  was  the  person  or  character,  and  what 
the  influence? 

13.  Compare  the  imitative  activities  of  country  children  with 
those  of  city  children.    Does  this  give  any  indication  of  the  im- 
portance of  imitation  as  a  means  of  adaptation?    Does  it  throw 
any  light  on  the  importance  of  environment  in  the  life  of  a  child? 

14.  Show  that  Imitation  is  a  great  factor  in  moral  training. 

15.  Make  a  careful  comparison  of  imitation,  as  a  factor  in 
learning  and  development,  with  all  other  factors. 

16.  When  you  have  the  opportunity  as  a  teacher,  make  a  study 
of  the  ideals  of  children  along  the  lines  suggested  by  the  studies 
of  Barnes,  as  indicated  in  the  second  volume  of  the  Studies  in 
Education.     (See  references.) 

17.  Give  data  from  your  own  experience  or  observation  to  show 
the  great  importance  of  ideals  in  adolescence. 

18.  Cite  cases  showing  the  effects  of  the  attitude  of  a  teacher 
toward  studies;  his  attitude  toward  important  principles  of  life 
and  action. 


THE   ADAPTIVE   INSTINCTS — IMITATION.  123 

19.  How  can  the  very  highest  type  of  man  be  secured  for  the 
teaching  profession?    Read  Cattell's  article  on  The  School  and  the 
Family,  in  Popular  Science  Monthly,  Vol.  Ixxiv,  p.  84.  Do  you  think 
it  possible  for  such  teachers  as  he  indicates  to  be  secured  for  nil 
our  schools?     Should  we  wark  toward  some  such  ideal?     What 
should  be  the  first  steps  toward  it? 

20.  A  student  in  one  of  the  author's  classes  once  reported  that  in 
a  teachers'  examination  which  he  had  just  attended  nearly  all  the 
applicants  for  certificates  cheated.     Why  did  they  do  it?     Should 
they  be  allowed  to  teach  children?     If  a  teacher  is  dishonest  in 
getting  his  license  to  teach,  is  he  likely  to  be  an  honest  and  truthful 
teacher? 

21.  Should  officials  who  examine  teachers  be  as  careful  about 
the  character  of  the  applicant  as  about  his  scholarship? 

22.  Show  fully  the  use  that  can  be  made  of  dramatisation  in 
the  different  grades  and  the  different  subjects.     Point  out  espe- 
cially how  it  can  be  a  means  of  interpreting  the  life  of  other 
countries  and  other  times. 

REFERENCES. 

Kirkpatrick,  Fundamentals  of  Child  Study,  Ch.  viii ;  Genetio 
Psychology,  1909,  p.  124;  M.  V.  O'Shea,  Social  Development  and 
Education,  1909,  Ch.  xvii ;  J.  Royce,  Psychological  Review,  Vol.  ii, 
p.  217;  Century,  Vol.  xlviii,  p.  137;  R.  Steel,  Imitation,  1910;  A.  E. 
Tanner,  The  Child,  1904,  Ch.  xv;  J.  M.  Baldwin,  Mental  Develop- 
ment, Methods  and  Processes,  1900,  Chs.  vi,  ix,  x,  xi  and  xii ;  C. 
Frear,  Fed.  Sem.,  Vol.  iv.  p.  382 ;  E.  M.  Haskell,  Ped.  Sem.,  Vol.  iii, 
p.  30 ;  E.  L.  Thorndike,  Animal  Intelligence,  1898,  pp.  47-64 ;  A.  J. 
Kinnaman,  American  Journal  of  Psychology,  Vol.  xiii,  p.  196;  L. 
W.  Cole,  Concerning  the  Intelligence  of  Raccoons,  in  Journal  of 
Comparative  Neurology,  Vol.  xvii,  No.  3;  H.  Miinsterberg,  Psy- 
chology and  the  Teacher.  1909,  Ch.  xix.  On  children's  ideals,  E.  M. 
Darrah,  A  Study  of  Children's  Ideals,  in  Popular  Science  Monthly, 
Vol.  lili,  p.  88;  W.  G.  Chambers,  The  Evolution  of  Ideals,  in  Ped. 
Sem.,  Vol.  x,  p.  101 ;  E.  Barnes,  Children's  Ideals,  in  Ped.  Sem., 
Vol.  vii.  p.  3 ;  Type  Study  of  Ideals,  in  Studies  in  Education,  VoL 
ii,  pp.  37,  78,  115,  157,  198,  237,  319,  359,  392. 


CHAPTEB  X. 
HABIT. 

Nature  of  habit. — Habit  may  be  defined  as  a  defi- 
nite, acquired  response  to  a  definite  stimulus.  It 
differs  from  instinct,  as  was  pointed  out  in  chapter 
IV,  in  being  a  type  of  response  whose  definiteness 
has  been  acquired  and  fixed  in  the  lifetime  of  the  indi- 
vidual. There  is  no  essential  psychological  or  phys- 
iological difference  between  these  two  forms  of  ac- 
tion; they  differ  only  in  the  matter  of  their  origin. 
The  instinctive  response  is  one  whose  co-ordination, 
with  its  stimulus,  is  provided  for  in  inherited  struc- 
tures and  does  not  have  to  be  learned  and  perfected 
by  practice.  But  an  habitual  response  is  one  that  is 
learned,  perfected  and  fixed  by  practice,  by  repeti- 
tion. The  nervous  system  is  but  a  means  of  connect- 
ing and  co-ordinating  the  muscular  response  of  an 
individual  with  the  impressions  of  the  external 
world.  Now,  those  responses  that  are  most  essential 
and  fundamental  to  the  life  of  the  animal  become 
insured  by  the  fixing,  through  heredity,  of  the  ner- 
vous connection  between  sense  organ  and  muscle, 
binding  together  stimulus  and  response,  so  that  when 
the  stimulus  is  first  presented  to  the  individual  the 
response  comes  with  considerable  definiteness  and 
precision.  Such  a  response  is  instinctive  and  is  the 
result  of  natural  selection  acting  upon  the  animals 
of  a  species.  When  a  movement  becomes  so  neces- 

[124] 


HABIT.  125 

sary  in  the  life  of  an  individual  that  it  is  repeated 
over  and  over  again,  its  connection  with  its  stimulus 
or  the  situation  that  calls  it  forth  becomes  more  and 
more  definite,  and  the  probability  that  the  given  stim- 
ulus or  situation  will  evoke  the  same  response  be- 
comes greater  and  greater.  The  nature  of  the  ner- 
vous chain  which  functions  to  join  stimulus  and  re- 
sponse is  doubtless  the  same  in  the  two  cases. 

James,*  who  has  written  the  best  chapter  on  habit, 
says :  ' '  The  moment  one  tries  to  define  habit,  one  is 
led  to  the  fundamental  properties  of  matter.  The 
laws  of  nature  are  but  the  immutable  habits  which 
the  different  elementary  sorts  of  matter  follow  in 
their  actions  and  reactions  upon  each  other.  In  the 
organic  world,  however,  the  habits  are  more  variable 
than  this.  *  *  *  The  philosophy  of  habit  is  thus, 
in  the  first  instance,  a  chapter  in  physics  rather  than 
in  physiology  or  psychology.  That  it  is  at  bottom  a 
physical  principle  is  admitted  by  all  good  recent 
writers  on  the  subject."  James  then  proceeds  to 
give  examples  in  the  physical  world  of  the  analogues 
of  habit  in  the  organic  world.  The  river  sticks  to  its 
channel  after  it  has  cut  it  deep  in  the  earth,  a  lock 
works  better  after  it  has  been  used,  a  coat  'sets'  to 
the  back  of  its  owner.  If  a  flat  piece  of  glass  has  a 
drop  of  water  put  upon  it,  and  is  then  tilted  slightly, 
the  drop  wanders  rather  slowly  and  uncertainly 
across  the  surface  of  the  glass.  But  if  another  drop 
is  put  in  the  same  place  and  the  experiment  repeated, 
it  moves  off  readily  in  the  path  of  the  first.  These 
analogies  may  not  throw  much  light  on  the  nature  of 
habit,  but  they  may  very  well  serve  to  call  our  atten- 

*Prlnciples  of  Psychology,  Vol.  i,  ch.  IT. 


126      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY. 

tion  to  the  fact  that  the  ultimate  explanation  of  habit 
is  doubtless  physical  or  chemical.  The  bare  fact 
seems  to  be,  as  far  as  we  know  it,  that  the  passage 
of  a  nervous  discharge  along  a  certain  path  facili- 
tates future  discharges  along  the  same  path.  And 
in  general  the  more  often  the  same  impression  is  fol- 
lowed by  the  same  neuro-muscular  change,  the  more 
certain  and  definite  the  physiological  connection 
seems  to  become.  Not  only  does  every  repetition 
serve  to  fix  the  habit,  but  the  fixing  of  the  habit  goes 
on  to  some  extent  between  repetitions.  It  has  been 
said  that  the  nervous  system  "grows  to  the  modes 
in  which  it  has  been  exercised,"  that  we  "learn  to 
swim  in  winter  and  to  skate  in  summer."  This  means 
that  our  habits  are  being  formed  not  only  while  we 
are  actually  repeating  the  act,  but  also  between  times. 
To  some  extent  the  nervous  system  is  built  up  around 
the  paths  once  marked  out.  The  actual  nature  of  the 
change  that  has  taken  place  in  the  nerves  is  not 
known,  but  it  must  be  some  sort  of  chemical  or  phys- 
ical rearrangement  of  particles  that  makes  easy  a 
nervous  discharge  along  the  accustomed  path.  With- 
out speculating  concerning  the  ultimate  basis  of 
habit,  the  psychologist  is  warranted  in  assuming  a 
physiological  basis.  The  neuro-muscular  system  de- 
velops and  'sets'  along  the  line  of  its  exercise. 

Function  of  habit. — The  results  that  are  accom- 
plished for  an  individual  by  habits  are  both  biolog- 
ical and  psychological.  (1)  The  biological  results. 
(a)  Habit  perfects  a  response  by  making  it  more  ac- 
curate and  therefore  better  serve  its  purpose.  Some 
illustrations  will  make  the  point  clear.  Suppose  one 
wishes  to  throw  a  ball  and  hit  a  mark.  The  first 


HABIT  127 

throws  go  wide  of  the  mark,  but  with  practice  they 
go  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  mark.  With  much  prac- 
tice, extending  over  many  months  and  years,  a  per- 
son can  throw  with  great  accuracy.  The  learning  of 
any  performance  demanding  skill  shows  the  same 
thing:  typewriting,  piano  playing,  driving  nails, 
sewing,  knitting,  and  even  expressing  one's  thoughts 
in  spoken  or  written  words.  In  each  there  is  a  prog- 
ress from  poor  performance  to  accurate  perform- 
ance. Habit,  then,  first  of  all,  secures  the  accurate 
performance  of  a  response,  (b)  Not  only  is  the 
habitual  act  ordinarily  performed  more  accurately 
than  before  habituation,  but  it  is  performed  more 
quickly.  The  person  learning  typewriting  not  only 
improves  in  accuracy,  but  also  in  speed.  The  begin- 
ner at  typewriting  makes  more  mistakes  and  at  the 
same  time  goes  more  slowly  than  does  the  experi- 
enced performer.  The  mathematician  increases  his 
speed  as  well  as  his  accuracy.  In  any  field  of  activity 
where  one  moves  accurately,  one  moves  also  quickly. 
The  experienced  surgeon  performs  the  most  delicate 
operation  with  great  dispatch.  The  carpenter,  the 
blacksmith, — the  experienced  workman  in  every 
field, — has  both  accuracy  and  speed.  It  is  the  inex- 
perienced workman  that  is  slow,  inaccurate,  awk- 
ward, (c)  It  follows  that  the  habitual  act  is  per- 
formed with  less  waste  of  energy.  Unnecessary 
movements  are  eliminated;  the  stimulus  goes  over 
directly  to  the  appropriate  response  without  being 
side-tracked  to  unnecessary  movements.  It  is  indeed 
because  of  this  close,  definite,  mechanical  connection 
of  stimulus  and  response  that  the  act  is  performed 
with  more  accuracy  and  speed.  The  inexperienced 


128      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

tennis  player  is  soon  exhausted  because  of  the  tre- 
mendous energy  unnecessarily  expended  in  receiving 
and  serving  the  balls.  Nearly  every  muscle  in  the 
body  is  brought  into  service.  Not  so  with  the  accom- 
plished player ;  for  him  the  unnecessary  movements 
are  eliminated;  long  practice  has  co-ordinated  and 
mechanised  for  him  all  the  various  movements.  A 
ball  approaching  in  a  certain  fashion  is  met  by  a  defi- 
nite sort  of  stroke.  The  best  player  is  the  one  that 
has  best  perfected  the  various  movements.  If  one 
watches  a  child  or  even  an  adult  trying  to  perform 
a  new  and  difficult  act,  one  can  see  the  indications  of 
waste  of  energy  in  grimaces,  writhing,  twisting  of  the 
body  in  awkward,  unnecessary  movements.  These 
superfluous  movements  disappear  with  practice,  and, 
as  a  rule,  the  most  efficient  performer  of  any  act 
does  it  with  the  greatest  ease,  with  the  least  effort, 
(d)  The  habitual  act  is  performed  with  less  fatigue, 
doubtless,  in  part  at  least,  because  of  the  elimination 
of  unnecessary  movements  and  the  close  mechanical 
connection  of  stimulus  and  response.  There  may  be 
less  fatigue  partly  because  the  body  is  actually  bet- 
ter able  to  perform  the  act  because  of  practice.  The 
muscles  involved  actually  have  more  strength,  and 
there  may  be  more  nervous  energy  available.  Use 
adapts  the  organism  for  the  response.  Because  of 
this  adaptation  the  organism  has  more  capacity  for 
endurance.  It  is  the  novice  that  gives  out  first  in  any 
performance.  The  inexperienced  walker  gives  out 
in  an  hour  or  two ;  the  habitual  walker  can  go  all  day 
with  ease.  The  boy  learning  carpentry  soon  tires  of 
driving  nails;  the  experienced  carpenter  can  work 
all  day  long  and  day  after  day.  Capacity  to  endure, 


HABIT  129 

whatever  may  be  the  causes,  is  one  of  the  important 
results  of  habituation.  (e)  Not  only  does  habituation 
accomplish  the  above  improvements  for  the  organ- 
ism, but  it  makes  the  appropriate  response  more  cer- 
tain upon  the  appearance  of  the  required  situation ; 
more  certain,  because  more  mechanical  and  direct. 
The  nervous  path  involved,  because  of  having  been 
so  frequently  used,  with  ever  more  and  more  fatality, 
carries  the  stimulus  into  immediate  and  certain  ac- 
tion. Therefore,  the  biological  function  of  habit 
•  might  be  said  to  be  to  perfect  a  response  and  pre- 
serve it  in  its  purity,  securing  the  greatest  possible 
efficiency  with  the  greatest  possible  economy  of 
effort. 

(2)  The  psychological  results,  (a)  The  process  of 
habituation  tends  to  take  an  action  outside  the  realm 
of  active  attention.  The  action  that  at  first  has  a 
high  clearness  value,  is  rich  in  conscious  content,  by 
repetition  drops  to  a  lower  conscious  level.  In  the 
repeated  performance  of  any  act  the  progress  is 
toward  automatisation  and  mechanisation  of  move- 
ment and  away  from  richness  in  conscious  content. 
In  other  words,  the  habitual  movement  has  little  con- 
scious accompaniment,  and  indeed  it  is  possible  to 
carry  it  to  the  point  of  complete  automatisation  till  it 
has  the  characteristic,  almost,  of  a  simple  reflex.  In 
such  cases  the  movement  is  turned  over  to  the  lower 
nervous  centers  and  may  be  completely  outside  the 
realm  of  consciousness.  This  end,  the  mechanisation 
of  movement,  is  the  goal  toward  which  all  repeated 
movements  tend,  (b)  While  the  conscious  aspect  of 
an  habitual  movement  is  poor  in  sensory  and  idea- 
tional  content,  its  affective  change  is  not  quite  so 


130      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

simple,  for  there  clearly  is  not  simply  a  loss  of  affect- 
ive value,  but  rather  a  change  to  pleasantness. 
Habitual  movements  seem  to  become  a  necessity  of 
the  organism  in  much  the  same  way  that  instinctive 
movements  do,  and  therefore  pleasurable.  More- 
over, the  fact  that  they  are  performed  with  ease  and 
without  much  fatigue  would  indicate  their  pleasur- 
ableness,  for,  as  a  rule,  what  we  do  with  ease  we  do 
with  pleasure.  At  any  rate,  whether  the  acquiring 
of  a  pleasant  affective  accompaniment  is  universal  or 
not,  it  must  be  true  that  the  loss  of  any  unpleasant 
accompaniment  is  general.  Of  course,  there  may  be 
conditions  accompanying  the  performance  of  an 
habitual  act  that  bring  unpleasantness,  but  it  is  not 
due  to  the  act  itself.  One  may  tire  of  doing  the 
habitual  act  just  as  one  may  tire  of  doing  the  instinct- 
ive thing.  There  seems  to  be  at  least  a  vague  content 
and  satisfaction  with  having  done  the  habitual  thing, 
and  this  fact  becomes  quite  evident  when  a  person  or 
animal  is  prevented  from  doing  the  long  habituated 
thing.  The  long  performance  of  an  act  seems  to 
make  that  performance  necessary  for  the  health  and 
well-being,  sometimes  even  the  life,  of  the  animal. 
When  a  habit  is  broken  off  there  may  sometimes  be 
pleasure  at  first  from  the  change,  but  there  usually 
comes  a  yearning  for  the  old  performance,  a  desire 
for  the  old  activity,  that  sometimes  can  not  be  re- 
sisted. Doing  the  accustomed  thing,  then,  gives  at 
least  a  vague  content  and  satisfaction  that  becomes 
apparent  when  the  habitual  act  is  interrupted.  It 
must  be  noted  here  that  muscular  movement,  from 
whatever  point  of  view  it  is  considered,  has  tre- 
mendous significance  for  animal  life.  The  organised 


HABIT  131 

movements  of  an  individual,  instinctive  and  acquired, 
largely  determine  the  individual's  needs  and  pleas- 
ures, (c)  Fatigue  is  both  physiological  and  psycho- 
logical, i.  e.,  there  is  exhaustion  of  energy  and  there 
is  a  feeling  of  exhaustion.  It  follows  that  the  de- 
crease of  fatigue  from  habituation  is  one  of  the  psy- 
chological results,  (d)  Another  psychological  result 
is  a  feeling  of  confidence  that  one  has  toward  an  act 
that  one  can  perform  with  skill.  After  long  perform- 
ance of  an  act  one  acquires  such  skill  that  the  per- 
formance can  be  approached  with  confidence,  without 
fear  of  failure,  because  long  experience  has  taught 
the  person  just  what  can  be  done.  The  performer 
knows  just  what  the  possibilities  are.  The  very  fact 
that  the  task  is  approached  with  a  feeling  of  confi- 
dence and  surety  makes  success  more  likely.  The 
psychological  function  of  habit  is,  therefore,  to  re- 
move the  necessity  of  active  attention.  With  the 
habituated  action  in  the  background  of  attention,  it 
is  then  possible  for  other  processes  to  occupy  the 
focus  of  attention  at  the  same  time  that  the  habitual 
action  is  going  on.  It  is  interesting  to  contemplate 
what  life  would  be  without  habit.  If  all  our  actions 
were  always  performed  as  if  for  the  first  time,  life 
would  be  difficult,  to  say  the  least.  Dressing,  and  eat- 
ing three  meals  a  day  would  use  up  our  energy  and 
take  the  most  of  our  time ;  but,  thanks  to  the  effects 
of  habit,  nearly  all  these  routine  actions  of  every  day 
occurrence  go  on  of  themselves  without  the  aid  of 
consciousness,  which  is  accordingly  relieved  for  other 
and  higher  functioning. 

Importance  of  habit  in  education.  —  We  have 
learned  that  education  is  a  process  of  adjustment,  an 


132      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

apprenticeship  in  learning  the  world  and  acquiring 
a  set  of  responses  that  will  enable  the  individual  to 
live.  He  must  learn  the  nature  of  the  various  things 
in  the  environment, — how  they  act  and  how  he  must 
act  in  their  presence.  As  the  years  of  an  individual's 
development  go  by  a  system  of  responses  is  built  up 
and  perfected.  By  the  end  of  the  first  third  of  life 
this  system  is  fairly  well  complete.  Whether  the 
child  goes  to  school  or  not,  in  this  sense,  he  is  edu- 
cated ;  some  sort  of  system  of  action  is  perfected  and 
fixed.  And  within  the  limits  set  by  the  instincts  any 
sort  of  system  is  possible.  Lying,  murder,  stealing, 
robbery,  deceit  are  possible,  as  well  as  truthfulness, 
honesty,  acts  of  sympathy  and  helpfulness,  and  all 
other  forms  of  virtuous  action  that  lead  to  mutual 
happiness.  The  schools  are  an  institution  of  society 
that  undertakes  to  guide  and  control  the  formation 
of  habits  that  will  be  for  the  highest  social  good.  The 
twofold  function  of  education  is  quite  plain:  (1)  On 
the  one  hand,  it  can  guide  and  assist  the  child  in 
acquiring  knowledge,  and  (2)  on  the  other  hand,  it 
can  perform  the  same  function  in  the  matter  of  habit- 
formation.  In  the  past  the  knowledge  side  of  educa- 
tion has  been  emphasized  and  the  habit  side  largely 
neglected.  Indeed,  it  has  often  been  forgotten  that 
the  acquiring  of  knowledge  is  but  a  part  of  education, 
that  knowledge  is  only  a  means,  that  it  should  always 
point  to  action.  Education  should  be  as  much  con- 
cerned with  guiding,  perfecting  and  fixing  an  individ- 
ual's  responses  as  with  the  organisation  of  his  ideas 
to  guide  these  responses.  There  is  no  question  that 
every  individual  soon  becomes  largely  a  creature  of 
habit.  It  is  the  business  of  education  to  guide  and 


HABIT  133 

aid  in  securing  the  formation  of  such  a  system  of 
habits  as  will  serve  the  highest  interests  of  the  indi- 
vidual and  society.  As  soon  as  a  child  is  born  habit- 
formation  sets  in, — at  first  in  such  matters  as  time 
and  manner  of  taking  food,  time,  place  and  manner 
of  going  to  sleep,  methods  of  getting  what  it  wants, 
etc.  The  process  goes  on,  soon  including  manner  of 
speech,  of  eating,  of  walking,  of  writing,  of  reading, 
relation  to  others,  continuing  for  twenty-five  or 
thirty  years  till  a  system  is  perfected  that  meets  the 
individual's  needs.  It  may  be  that  it  meets  them 
more  inadequately  than  would  some  other  system, 
but  it  meets  them.  The  rule  is  that  this  system  of 
responses  thus  acquired  and  perfected  suffices  for  the 
rest  of  life  with  little  modification.  The  individual  :s 
henceforth  very  much  a  machine,  reacting  largely 
mechanically,  with  rather  definite  ways  of  meeting 
the  various  situations  of  life.  There  is  no  way  of 
avoiding  this  outcome  of  individual  development. 
And,  on  the  whole,  it  is  well  that  as  many  of  life's 
reactions  as  possible  be  mechanised  and  handed  over 
to  the  lower  nerve-centers.  The  utmost  that  educa- 
tion can  hope  to  do  is  to  keep  the  individual  plastic 
until  the  highest  possible  forms  of  responses  for  the 
various  situations  of  life  can  be  acquired  and  fixed. 
But  it  is  nonsense  to  talk  about  keeping  the  individ- 
ual permanently  plastic;  set  he  will  and  must.  And 
fortunate  we  may  consider  the  individual  if  we  can 
prolong  his  infancy  till  he  acquires  what  may  be  con- 
sidered a  fairly  adequate  form  of  response. 

The  view  of  education  as  the  conscious  attempt  of 
society  to  assist  the  child  in  organising  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  world  and  in  perfecting  and  habituating 


134      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL,  PSYCHOLOGY. 

his  responses  can  not  be  too  clearly  kept  in  view. 
And  the  possibilities  and  limitations  must  never  be 
forgotten.  On  the  knowledge  side  we  can  assist  the 
child  in  acquiring  knowledge  and  to  some  extent  de- 
termine what  knowledge  it  will  acquire.  On  the 
habit  side  there  are  great  possibilities.  Sufficient 
wisdom,  patience  and  care  on  the  part  of  elders 
enable  the  normal  child  to  reach  maturity  with  the 
great  majority  of  his  necessary  reactions  reduced  to 
a  fair  degree  of  automatisation.  Speaking,  writing, 
reading,  social  responses,  the  various  routine  actions 
of  every-day  life,  and  even  moral  and  professional 
actions,  can,  for  the  most  part,  be  reduced  far  toward 
the  plane  of  unconscious  mechanism.  It  shall  be  our 
concern  in  the  pages  that  immediatelly  follow  to 
work  out  the  laws  that  control  the  process  of  habit- 
formation  so  that  we  may  know  how  to  proceed  intel- 
ligently to  guide  and  assist  in  their  formation.  It  is 
evident  that  the  curriculum  should  be  examined  and 
analysed  into  the  ideas  to  be  organised  and  the  habits 
to  be  formed,  and  that  the  methods  used  must  be 
adapted  to  the  end  to  be  attained.  If  habits  are  to 
be  formed,  then  the  procedure  must  be  what  psychol- 
ogy dictates  as  being  in  accord  with  the  laws  of 
habit-formation. 

The  ethics  of  habit.— Chapter  XII  is  devoted  to  the 
subject  of  habits  and  morals,  but  a  brief,  general 
statement  is  not  out  of  place  here.  From  what  has 
been  said  above,  it  is  evident  that  habit  plays  the 
same  role  in  all  forms  of  action,  whether  of  moral 
significance  or  not.  All  the  moral  actions  of  our  ma- 
ture life  will  have  habit  as  their  basis.  The  impor- 
tant function  of  habit  here  can  not  be  bettej-  ex- 


HABIT  135 

pressed  than  in  the  classic  words  of  James:*  "Habit 
is  thus  the  enormous  flywheel  of  society,  its  most 
precious  conservative  agent.  It  alone  is  what  keeps 
us  all  within  the  bounds  of  ordinance,  and  saves  the 
children  of  fortune  from  the  envious  uprisings  of  the 
poor.  It  alone  prevents  the  hardest  and  most  repul- 
sive walks  of  life  from  being  deserted  by  those 
brought  up  to  tread  therein.  It  keeps  the  fisherman 
and  the  deck-hand  at  sea  through  the  winter ;  it  holds 
the  miner  in  his  darkness,  and  nails  the  countryman 
to  his  log-cabin  and  his  lonely  farm  through  all  the 
months  of  snow ;  it  protects  us  from  invasion  by  the 
natives  of  the  desert  and  the  frozen  zone.  It  dooms 
us  all  to  fight  out  the  battle  of  life  upon  the  lines  of 
our  nurture  or  our  early  choice,  and  to  make  the  best 
of  a  pursuit  that  disagrees,  because  there  is  no  other 
for  which  we  are  fitted  and  it  is  too  late  to  begin 
again.  It  keeps  different  social  strata  from  mixing. 
Already  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  you  see  the  profes- 
sional mannerism  settling  down  on  the  young  com- 
mercial traveler,  on  the  young  doctor,  on  the  young 
minister,  on  the  young  counsellor-at-law.  You  see 
the  little  lines  of  cleavage  running  through  the  char- 
acter, the  tricks  of  thought,  the  prejudices,  the  ways 
of  the  'shop',  in  a  word,  from  which  the  man  can  by 
and  by  no  more  escape  than  his  coat  sleeve  can  sud- 
denly fall  into  a  new  set  of  folds.  On  the  whole,  it  is 
best  that  he  should  not  escape.  It  is  well  for  the 
world  that  in  most  of  us,  by  the  age  of  thirty,  the 
character  has  set  like  plaster  and  will  never  soften 
again." 


*W.  James,  Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  i,  p.  121. 


136      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 


Laws  of  habit-formation, — The  perfection  and  defi- 
niteness  acquired  in  the  process  of  habituation  de- 
pend directly  upon  the  number  of  attentive  and 
pleasurable  repetitions  and  inversely  upon  the  num- 
ber of  exceptions.  These  facts  may  be  expressed  in 
the  formula, 
Perfection  and 

definiteness  of  =• 

response 


Repetitions  X  vividness  X  pleasure 
exceptions 


DAYS 


20 


60. 


nahltuatlon  curves.  The  dotted  line  shows  the  Improvement  In  accuracy 
and  the  continuous  line  shows  the  Increase  in  speed,  brought  about  by 
daily  practice  with  the  typewriter. 

Repetition.  —  The  process  of  habituation  brings 
about,  as  we  have  seen,  on  the  biological  side,  some 
sort  of  neuro-muscular  reorganisation  that  definitely 
and  mechanically  connects  stimulus  and  response, 
and,  on  the  psychological  side,  the  dropping  of  the 
action  from  focal  to  lower  level  attention.  In  this 
development  repetition  is  one  of  the  most  important 
factors.  If,  for  example,  we  wish  to  establish  the 
connection  between  stimulus  X  and  response  Y,  we 


HABIT  137 

must  get  the  response  in  the  first  place,  and  then  have 
it  repeated  over  and  over  again  for  days  and  months, 
and  in  some  cases  years.  This  repetition  serves  to 
mechanise  the  process.  Other  things  equal,  the 
greater  the  number  of  repetitions,  the  more  perfect 
and  mechanical  do  the  physiological  processes  be- 
come and  the  less  conscious  value  do  they  have. 
These  two  factors,  the  physiological  and  the  mental, 
vary  inversely.  The  more  definite  and  mechanical 
the  habit  becomes,  the  less  of  conscious  value  it  has. 
This  inverse  relation  of  consciousness  (C)  and  me- 
chanisation (M)  and  their  mutual  dependence  upon 
repetition  (B)  may  be  expressed  in  the  formula, 

R  =  ?J .    These  formulas  can  be  true,  of  course,  only 

in  a  general  way,  and  are  given  in  the  hope  of  aiding 
the  student  to  hold  in  mind  the  general  tendencies 
of  the  factors  involved  in  habit- formation.  The  data 
necessary  for  making  these  formulas  mathematically 
exact  are  not  yet  available.  Sufficient  experimental 
work  has  been  done  to  show  that  within  certain  limits 
mechanisation  bears  a  direct  relation  to  repetition. 
However,  if  we  measure  mechanisation  by  speed  and 
accuracy,  it  does  not  ordinarily  proceed  evenly. 
There  are  usually  periods  of  rapid  mechanisation 
followed  by  periods  of  slow  mechanisation.  If  we 
take  the  average  daily  progress,  then  we  can  have  a 
definite  formula  to  express  it, — repetition  equals 
mechanisation  multiplied  by  a  constant.  And  al- 
though the  mechanisation,  so  far  as  we  can  measure 
it,  proceeds  by  jumps,  it  doubtless  is  fairly  uniform 
if  only  we  can  keep  the  conditions  constant.  And  the 
so-called  "plateaus'*  of  learning  are  doubtless  as 


138      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL.  PSYCHOLOGY 

effective  in  producing  mechanisation  as  are  the  repe- 
titions that  actually  show  the  improvement.  So  that 
we  are  probably  justified  in  taking  the  average  daily 
improvement  as  the  rate  of  mechanisation.  But  we 
do  not  have  sufficient  data  to  enable  us  to  speak  with 
confidence  concerning  the  decrease  of  attention  to  the 
act  in  process  of  habituation.  We  know  in  a  general 
way  that  the  action  steadily  passes  to  a  lower  level 
of  attention,  but  the  exact  statement  of  the  quantita- 
ive  aspects  of  this  passage  from  the  focus  of  atten- 
tion to  a  lower  level  awaits  a  careful  introspective 
analysis. 

One  of  the  best  illustrations  of  the  effect  and  use  of 
repetition  comes  from  childhood  and  is  due  to  imita- 
tion. Children,  as  we  saw  in  chapter  IX,  are  imi- 
tators. The  desire  and  tendency  to  reproduce  what 
they  see  done  is  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  impor- 
tant aspects  of  their  nature.  What  interests  us  here 
is  not  merely  the  fact  that  they  imitate,  but  that  they 
repeat  the  imitative  process  over  and  over.  We  have 
already  pointed  out  that  imitation  is  the  result  of 
natural  selection.  In  the  evolution  of  our  race  the 
individuals  that  imitated  survived  because  of  the  fol- 
lowing fact :  repeated  imitation  of  the  actions  of  the 
grown  people  about  them  led  to  the  formation  in  the 
children  of  habits  of  response  that  served  to  adjust 
them  to  their  environment.  Here  we  have  an  aspect 
of  child  nature  essentially  instinctive,  whose  func- 
tion is  the  formation  of  a  system  of  habits  that  will 
serve  as  an  adequate  adjustment  in  a  social  life  so 
complex  that  special  instincts  no  longer  sufficiently 
serve  the  individual's  needs.  Language,  for  example, 
is  an  important  factor  in  social  and  civilised  life.  The 


HABIT  139 

basis  of  language  is  habit;  the  matter  of  acquiring 
language  is  almost  entirely  one  of  imitation.  The 
child,  usually  within  the  first  year,  begins  to  repeat 
the  sounds  that  he  hears, — over  and  over  again  he 
says  them, — mamma,  mamma,  mamma,  and  papa, 
papa,  papa,  etc.,  perhaps  hundreds  of  times  a  day. 
And  in  the  second  year,  as  the  names  of  things  are 
learned,  the  sight  or  sound  of  an  object  serves  to  call 
forth  its  name,  and  the  child  is  not  satisfied  with  say- 
ing it  once,  but  must  repeat  it,  often  many  times. 
This  process  soon  gives  a  child  control  of  a  language. 
Nature  is  an  efficient  teacher.  A  study  of  her 
methods  reveals  the  fact  that  persistent,  unending 
repetition  is  one  of  her  important  methods. 

The  effects  of  repetition  may  be  further  shown  by 
a  consideration  of  the  learning  of  typewriting.  In 
typewriting  the  idea  or  perception  of  a  certain  word 
is  followed  by  striking  certain  keys  in  a  certain  order. 
At  first  the  performance  is  slow  and  uncertain,  but 
by  continued  repetition  the  learner  improves  in 
speed  and  accuracy;  more  and  more  definite  and 
mechanical  becomes  the  response,  less  and  less  con- 
sciousness attends  the  movements.  The  repetition 
leads  to  the  mechanisation  of  the  movement,  with  the 
freeing  of  consciousness  from  attending  to  it.  In  the 
early  period  of  learning  consciousness  is  engrossed 
with  the  movements,  and  the  meaning  of  the  words 
written  is  not  focal  for  attention.  In  this  stage  the 
management  of  the  typewriter  demands  all  the  atten- 
tion of  the  learner.  Gradually  the  movements  con- 
cerned in  striking  the  keys  and  operating  the  ma- 
chine become  mechanical  and  drop  to  a  low  level  of 
attention;  then  the  meanings  of  the  words  may  be- 


140      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

come  objects  of  the  focal  processes  for  consciousness. 
As  a  result  of  repetition,  then,  the  operation  of  the  ma- 
chine is  more  rapid  and  accurate,  and  at  the  same 
time  demands  less  attention. 

Repetition  in  attention. — Not  only  must  a  process 
be  repeated  to  secure  habituation,  but  mechanisation 
is  more  quickly  secured  if  the  repetitions  at  first  are 
vividly  present  in  consciousness.  For  repetitions  to  be 
most  effective  the  action  must  be  focal  in  attention.  In 
other  words,  the  more  we  attend  to  a  process  at  first, 
the  earlier  we  can  afford  to  neglect  attending  to  it; 
and  the  less  attention  to  the  movements  in  the 
process  of  learning,  the  longer  the  process  of  habitu- 
ation. Eepetition,  then,  to  be  most  valuable  must  be 
at  the  height  of  attention.  One  reason  why  the  imita- 
tive repetition  of  the  child  is  so  effective  is  because  it 
involves  the  child's  whole  consciousness, — his  whole 
being  goes  into  his  act.  And  one  reason  why  the  work 
of  the  school  room  is  so  ineffectual  is  because  it  does 
not  involve  the  whole  consciousness,  but  is  often  done 
on  a  low  level  of  attention,  while  other  processes 
occupy  the  focus. 

Pleasurable  repetition.  —  Intimately  connected 
with  the  fact  of  attention  is  that  of  interest.  An  in- 
teresting performance  is  one  performed  with  accom- 
panying or  resultant  pleasure.  The  higher  the  affect- 
ive value  of  a  repetition,  the  more  it  contributes  to 
habituation.  This  factor,  as  well  as  attention,  gives 
value  to  imitative  repetition.  The  child  not  only 
gives  his  whole  attention  to  what  he  does,  but  he 
takes  immense  pleasure  in  it.  His  whole  being  goes 
into  the  performance;  there  is  nothing  of  a  half- 
hearted nature  about  it.  The  natural  activities  of 


HABIT  141 

early  life  that  are  the  expression  of  the  maturing 
instincts  are  always  pleasurable.  It  is  for  this  rea- 
son largely  that,  as  the  child  repeats  his  actions  in 
play  and  imitation,  he  quickly  acquires  great  facility. 
In  our  more  or  less  blind  and  awkward  attempts  to 
secure  repetition  in  later  life  we  seldom  approach 
the  conditions  of  attention  and  interest  that  are  com- 
mon in  the  spontaneous  activities  of  childhood.  But 
the  key  to  success  in  teaching  is,  without  doubt,  to 
use  the  method  of  nature  that  underlies  the  education 
of  our  earlier  years.  Fortunate  is  the  teacher  who 
has  had  the  opportunity  to  observe  the  growing 
child.  Consider,  for  example,  a  child  learning  to 
feed  itself  in  the  early  part  of  its  second  year.  He 
manipulates  the  spoon  with  great  awkwardness,  he 
gets  little  food  from  it,  but  he  insists  on  feeding  him- 
self none  the  less.  Great  is  the  joy  that  he  gets  from 
it  and  great  is  the  attention  that  he  gives  to  it.  The 
same  fact  is  noticed  when  children  are  learning  to 
dress  themselves.  They  often  show  great  anger  if 
some  one  fastens  a  button  for  them,  although  it  may 
save  them  a  great  deal  of  time.  The  act  of  dressing 
and  undressing  gives  them  much  pleasure  when  they 
are  just  learning  the  performance.  It  is  easy  to  see 
how  natural  selection  would  develop  such  qualities. 
A  child  that  took  no  delight  in  feeding  or  dressing 
itself  would  never  learn  to  do  these  things  and  would 
have  a  poor  chance  of  survival.  The  child  is  a  crea- 
ture of  instinct.  The  instincts  have  a  high  affective 
value,  therefore  the  instinctive  repetitions  of  early 
life  quickly  lead  to  habituation.  This  fact  is  sug- 
gestive for  education.  If  we  can  graft  our  habits 
upon  some  instinct  or  other,  their  formation  is  easy 


142      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

because  of  the  above  facts.  Since  inattentive,  unin- 
teresting repetition  is  largely  ineffectual,  those  who 
undertake  the  direction  of  habit-formation  must  seek 
to  identify  the  desired  response  with  some  instinct 
or  some  great  natural  need  of  the  child. 

Two  further  facts  must  be  mentioned  in  this  con- 
nection. Since  the  value  of  a  repetition  depends  on 
its  pleasurableness  and  vividness,  drill  periods  and 
practice  periods  should  be  short  and  often  repeated, 
for  if  the  repetition  continues  for  any  great  length  of 
time  it  takes  place  without  attention  and  pleasure. 
The  effectual  drill  is  short  and  performed  at  the 
highest  point  of  mental  efficiency  and  often  repeated. 
This  is  an  important  fact  for  teachers  to  learn,  for 
much  of  drill  work  has  been  a  monotonous  'grind' 
that  accomplished  next  to  nothing.  The  second  fac- 
tor that  is  important  here  is  that  of  fatigue.  When 
fatigue  sets  in,  attention  and  pleasure  ordinarily 
decline,  unless  large  instinctive  resources  are  being 
drawn  upon.  For  children,  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  are 
quite  enough  for  practice  at  one  time,  and  in  the  case 
of  adults  there  is  a  large  decrease  in  efficiency  in  the 
latter  part  of  an  hour's  practice  or  drill. 

Habit  and  attitude. — Habit  has  an  important  rela- 
tion to  attitude,  probably  because  of  the  relation  of 
attitude  to  attention  and  pleasure.  One  of  the  laws 
of  attention  is  that  what  fits  into  one's  attitude,  one's 
general  mood  or  frame  of  mind,  will  attract  atten- 
tion. Since  attention  is  necessary  to  valuable  repe- 
tition, it  is  important  that  children  have  the  proper 
frame  of  mind  before  practice  begins.  Another  as- 
pect of  attitude  is  ver)  significant :  When  one  has  a 
habit  in  process  of  formation,  and  allows  an  excep- 


HABIT  143 

tion  to  occur,  it  often  results  in  a  complete  change 
of  attitude  toward  the  act  involved.  One  changes, 
in  such  a  case,  from  an  attitude  of  certainty  and  con- 
fidence to  one  of  uncertainty,  from  strength  to 
weakness. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOB  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  Make  a  list  of  acts  performed  In  a  day  that  may  be  called 
habits.    Indicate,  in  each  case,  the  stimulus  and  the  response. 

2.  Point  out  the  physiological  and  psychological  results  of  hablt- 
uation  for  each  habit  enumerated  in  answer  to  No.  1. 

3.  Illustrate,  from  your  own  experience,  the  laws  of  habit  for- 
mation as  expressed  In  the  two  formulas  in  the  chapter.     Take 
account  of  attention,  pleasure,  repetition,  exceptions. 

4.  Have  you  ever  habituated  an  act  that  was  at  first  unpleasant? 
If  so,   did  the  unpleasantness  disappear?     Did   the  act  become 
pleasant  later? 

5.  Do  you  now  perform  any  habitual  act  that  is  unpleasant? 
Is  the  unpleasantness  due  to  the  act  itself  or  to  attending  circum- 
stances?   Cite  all  the  evidence  you  can  that  seems  to  show  that  the 
statement  of  the  text  concerning  the  pleasurableness  of  habitual 
acts  is  not  true. 

6.  Mention  some  habitual  acts  that  are  devoid  of  all  feeling. 
Are  they  not  far  on  the  way  toward  automatisms? 

7.  Name  some  of  your  oldest  habits.     How  do  they  compare 
with  instincts  in  their  definiteness? 

8.  Apply  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  chapter  by  experiment- 
ing for  one  month  in  forming  a  habit.    Keep  a  complete  record  of 
the  whole  experiment.    If  it  is  possible  to  do  so,  plot  a  curve  show- 
ing the  progress  in  mechanisation,  using  speed  and  accuracy  as 
criteria  of  mechanisation.    Before  beginning  the  experiment  make 
an  outline  of  it  and  hand  In  to  the  Instructor  for  criticism. 

9.  Give  from   your  own  experience   illustrations   showing  the 
effect  of  attitude  on  habit. 

10.  Give  illustrations  of  habit  In  domestic  animals.    How  were 
the  habits  formed? 

11.  Suppose  that  a  person  Is  practicing  on  the  violin  and  the 
arms  get  tired,   although  attention  and  pleasure  are  still  main- 
tained.    Can  the  practice  be  continued  profitably?  and  If  so,  how 
long?    If  not,  why  not? 

12.  Suppose  a  bad  habit  has  been  broken  for  several  years.    Is 
there  any  danger  of  backsliding? 

13.  Plan  a  method  of  breaking  a  habit  that  has  become  an 
automatism. 

14.  Do  you  think  a  person  learning  to  play  the  piano  can  prac- 
tice profitably  for  three  or  four  hours  at  a  time? 


144      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

15.  Hare  you  ever  formed  a  habit  against  your  will? 

16.  How  account  for  the  fact  that  some  people  are  better  teach- 
ers when  young  than  when  they  are  older  and  have  habituated 
their  various  procedures? 

17.  Give  illustrations  of  various  professional  habits.     Make  a 
list  of  professional  mannerisms  that  you  notice  in  a  day. 

18.  Find  what  percentage  of  people  over  40  have  changed  the 
religion  of  their  early  days. 

19.  Is  there  such  a  thing  as  a  habit  of  thought?    Explain  fully. 

20.  Can  one  repetition  form  a  habit?    Explain. 

21.  Do  habits  work  against  progress?     Show  how  they  may 
work  for  progress. 

22.  Have  you  known  of  old  people  changing  their  place  and 
manner  of  living?    If  so,  give  account  of  the  results. 

23.  What  aspect  of  habit  formation  is  most  difficult?    Answer 
from  your  experience. 

24.  Are  there  any  habits  not  based  directly  on  instinct? 

25.  Can  you  give  apparent  exceptions  to  the  statement  that 
habituation  gives  confidence? 

26.  In  the  formation  of  a  habit,  what  makes  it  possible  to 
couple  up  the  response  and  stimulus  the  first  time?    Illustrate. 

27.  Deal  out  a  pack  of  cards  according  to  a  certain  scheme  until 
you  have  acquired  considerable  speed,  then  deal  them  according 
to  a  different  scheme  and  note  the  interference  of  the  first  habit. 

28.  If  you  have  ever  carried  a  watch  for  a  long  time  and  then 
changed  the  watch  to  a  different  pocket,  what  was  the  result?    Give 
other  illustrations  of  similar  nature. 

29.  Did  you  ever  remove  your  coat  to  prepare  for  dinner  and 
continue  to  undress  as  if  preparing  to  retire?    What  is  the  prin- 
ciple illustrated  by  such  a  procedure?    If  a  man  remove  his  vest 
In  the  daytime,  he  is  almost  sure  to  wind  his  watch.    Why  is  this? 

30.  Are  people  who  marry  late  in  life  as  likely  to  get  along  well 
together  as  those  who  marry  earlier?     What  principles  are  in- 
volved? 

31.  Attention   often   interferes   with   the   performance   of   an 
habitual  act.    Why  is  this? 

32.  Can  you  give  an  illustration  showing  the  relation  of  habit 
to  sickness? 

33.  Why  is  it  difficult  to  form  new  habits  late  in  life? 

REFERENCES. 

FOR  GENERAL  TREATMENT: 

W.  James,  Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  1,  Ch.  iv;  Psychology, 
Briefer  Course,  Ch.  x;  in  Popular  Science  Monthly,  Vol.  xxx,  p. 
433;  Talks  to  Teachers,  1906,  Ch.  viii;  S.  H.  Rowe,  Habit-Forma- 
tion, 1909,  Chs.  i-v;  B.  R.  Andrews,  Habit,  in  American  Journal  of 
Psychology,  xiv,  p.  121 ;  W.  C.  Bagley,  The  Educative  Process,  1905, 
Ch.  vil ;  J.  R.  Angell,  Psychology,  1908,  pp.  66-74 ;  C.  H.  Judd,  Psy- 
chology, 1907,  Ch.  viii;  R.  M.  Yerkes,  Introduction  to  Psychology, 


HABIT  145 

1911,  pp.  401-408 ;  P.  Radestock,  IlaUt  and  Its  Importance  in  Edu- 
cation, translated  by  F.  A.  Caspar!,  1886,  still  worth  reading ;  E.  L. 
Thorndike,  The  Principles  of  Teaching,  1906,  p.  110;  E.  A.  Kirk- 
patrick,  Genetic  Psychology,  1909,  pp.  111-126. 

ORIGINAL  STUDIES:  W.  L.  Bryan,  On  the  Development  of 
Voluntary  Motor  Ability,  in  American  Journal  of  Psychology,  Vol. 
v.  p.  125;  W.  L.  Bryan  and  N.  Harter,  Studies  on  the  Telegraphic 
Language:  The  Acquisition  of  a  Hierarchy  of  Habits,  in  Psycho- 
logical Review,  Vol.  vi,  p.  345;  E.  J.  Swift,  Mind  in  the  Making, 
1908,  Ch.  vi;  also  Studies  in  the  Psychology  and  Physiology  of 
Learning,  in  American  Journal  of  Psychology,  Vol.  xiv,  p.  201 ;  W. 
F.  Book,  The  Psychology  of  Skill,  with  Special  Reference  to  Its 
Acquisition  in  Typewriting,  1908;  W.  G.  Anderson,  Studies  in  the 
Effects  of  Physical  Training,  in  American  Physical  Education  Re- 
view, Vol.  iv,  p.  265 ;  J.  H.  Bair,  The  Practice  Curve,  in  Psycholog- 
ical Review,  Monograph  Supplement,  No.  14  (1902)  ;  T.  L.  Bolton, 
Relation  of  Motor  Power  to  Intelligence,  in  American  Journal  of 
Psychology,  Vol.  xiv,  pp.  622-631. 


CHAPTEB  XI. 
HABIT  AND  EDUCATION. 

The  nature  of  habit  and  the  principles  that  under- 
lie its  formation  have  already  been  set  forth.  In  this 
chapter  we  shall  consider  the  problems  that  arise  in 
the  application  of  these  principles. 

The  function  of  the  teacher. — It  is  worth  while  to 
get  a  clear  notion  of  what  the  teacher  can  do  to  assist 
the  young  in  the  formation  of  habits.  (1)  First  of 
all,  the  teacher  should  know  clearly  the  nature  of  the 
habits  to  be  formed;  he  should  have  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  curriculum,  and,  as  Dr.  Eowe  has 
pointed  out,  know  the  nature  of  its  different  parts; 
know  what  is  largely  a  matter  of  ideas  to  be  acquired 
and  what  is  largely  a  matter  of  habits  to  be  formed. 
Every  branch  of  study  has  both  aspects,  both  a 
knowledge  side  and  a  skill  side.  But  some  branches, 
as  history,  literature  and  science,  are  predominantly 
matters  of  ideas,  information ;  while  others,  as  draw- 
ing, painting,  singing,  reading,  writing,  much  of 
mathematics,  are  largely  matters  of  skill  to  be  ac- 
quired. The  teacher  must  have  this  broad  and  funda- 
mental knowledge  of  the  course  of  study  and  of  the 
nature  and  relation  of  its  various  parts  in  order  to 
be  able  understandingly  to  direct  the  work  of  the 
pupil.  In  addition  to  this  general  knowledge,  he 
should  be  able  to  analyse  a  subject  into  its  various 
elements  and  know  well  the  object  of  each  step,  each 
lesson  in  the  pupil's  progress.  For  example,  if  the 

[146] 


HABIT   AND   EDUCATION  147 

object  of  a  lesson  is  to  automatise  a  part  of  the  mul- 
tiplication table,  then  one  procedure  is  required ;  if, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  object  of  the  lesson  is  to  learn 
the  cause  of  eclipses,  a  different  procedure  is  re- 
quired. Here,  of  course,  we  are  concerned  only  with 
those  studies  or  parts  of  studies  that  involve  the  for- 
mation of  a  habit.  Suppose,  then,  the  teacher  knows 
the  object  of  a  lesson  to  be  the  formation  of  a  habit ; 
his  next  duty  is  (2)  to  explain  the  habit  desired  to  the 
pupils.  It  may  be  that  usually  certain  ideas  are  first 
to  be  developed,  then  processes  habituated.  After 
the  development  of  the  ideas,  the  teacher  should  ex- 
plain and  demonstrate  each  step  in  the  processes 
that  are  to  be  habituated.  To  illustrate,  suppose  the 
lesson  is  to  learn  how  to  extract  square  root.  What 
square  root  is,  is  first  explained,  then  the  various 
steps  in  finding  it  are  worked  out  and  clearly  demon- 
strated. The  teacher  must  have  in  mind  a  well  de- 
fined method  and  adhere  to  it  after  first  explaining 
and  justifying  it.  In  the  case  of  young  pupils,  pro- 
cedures will  often  be  learned  before  the  principles 
underlying  the  processes  are  known,  but  this  does 
not  concern  us  here  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
formation  of  the  habit.  In  any  case,  the  teacher 
should  fully  explain  and  demonstrate  the  separate 
steps  in  their  proper  order.  In  the  example  cited 
the  procedure  might  be:  (a)  point  off  the  number 
into  periods  of  two  figures  each;  (b)  find  the  largest 
number  whose  square  is  not  larger  than  the  first 
period;  (c)  put  this  down  as  the  first  figure  of  the 
root;  (d)  square  this  figure  and  subtract  the  square 
from  the  first  period  of  the  number;  (e)  bring  down 
the  next  period;  (f)  for  a  trial  divisor,  annex  a 


148      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

cipher  to  the  root  found  and  double  it;  (g)  find  how 
many  times  this  trial  divisor  is  contained  in  the  pres- 
ent dividend,  making  allowance  for  the  completed 
divisor ;  this  gives  the  next  figure  of  the  root,  and  it 
is  then  substituted  for  the  cipher  in  the  trial  divisor, 
giving  the  completed  divisor,  (h)  which  is  then  mul- 
tiplied by  the  new  figure  of  the  root  and  the  product 
subtracted  from  the  dividend;  proceed  as  before. 
Every  particular  of  the  procedure  is  to  be  explained 
and  made  clear  by  abundant  illustration,  and  to  be 
sure  that  the  pupils  understand  it,  before  they  are 
put  to  work  at  solving  problems  by  themselves,  the 
teacher  should  have  them  solve  a  few  problems  while 
he  is  present  to  correct  the  mistakes.  This  brings  us 
to  the  next  function  of  the  teacher,  which  is  (3)  to  set 
the  pupils  right  and  correct  the  errors  that  they 
make  at  the  beginning  of  the  process  of  habituation. 
Neither  the  teacher  nor  the  pupil  knows  whether  the 
pupil  understands  a  process  until  the  latter  is  put 
to  the  test.  Therefore  the  economical  way  is  to  set 
the  learner  right  at  the  start,  to  take  infinite  pains 
at  the  beginning.  (4)  Closely  allied  to  the  preced- 
ing is  the  matter  of  requiring  the  pupil  to  master 
important  details  in  the  series  of  processes.  Quite 
often  complex  habits  are  not  well  formed  because  the 
pupils  are  not  kept  long  enough  on  the  separate  and 
important  details.  Ease  of  performance  is  never 
attained  till  the  details  are  mastered  and  habituated. 
Children  are  content  to  stop  practice  with  a  fair 
degree  of  mastery,  and  too  often  the  teacher  is  will- 
ing that  they  should,  but  he  can  render  one  of  his 
greatest  services  by  holding  the  children  to  the  mas- 
tery of  all  essential  details  in  the  process  to  be  habit- 


HABIT   AND   EDUCATION  149 

uated.  (5)  The  teacher  can  greatly  assist  the  child 
by  supplying  a  motive  for  acquiring  the  habit  in 
question.  This  is  what  Dr.  Kowe  calls  getting  initia- 
tive. The  teacher  can  help  here  by  making  clear  to 
the  pupil  the  necessity  of  the  habit  in  question.  In- 
deed, the  pupil  can  be  made  to  feel  this  need  very 
keenly  by  finding  his  equipment  inadequate  to  his 
needs  and  by  noting  the  ease  by  which  others  who 
have  formed  the  habit  can  do  what  he  himself  can  not 
do.  In  addition,  the  teacher  can  see  that  the  child 
reap  the  benefit  of  every  little  advance  toward  habit- 
uation  and  be  allowed  the  satisfaction  that  comes 
from  achievement.  He  can  do  much  also  by  words  of 
encouragement,  by  calling  attention  to  progress,  and 
in  other  ways  inducing  good  feeling  in  the  child. 

Repetition,  practice. — The  problem  of  drill  is  one 
of  the  most  difficult  that  the  teacher  ever  has  to  meet. 
It  takes  a  great  amount  of  practice  to  make  a  skilful 
performer  at  anything,  —  the  pianist,  typewriter, 
stenographer,  accountant  become  expert  by  long  and 
persistent  practice.  Ease,  accuracy  and  speed  in 
spelling,  reading,  writing,  adding,  etc.,  come  only  at 
the  cost  of  much  energy  spent  in  drill,  in  repetition. 
By  drill  here  we  do  not  mean  merely  formal  drill,  but 
any  and  all  manner  of  repetitions  by  which  the 
process  becomes  fixed.  As  far  as  establishing  the 
habit  is  concerned,  it  makes  no  difference  whether 
the  repetitions  are  in  the  form  of  formal  drill  or  are 
made  a  necessary  part  of  some  larger  performance ; 
no  difference  so  long  as  the  psychological  and  phys- 
iological conditions  that  have  been  mentioned  are 
maintained.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  schools 
should  try  to  get  away  from  all  drill  and  practice 


150      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

pure  and  simple.  Where  drill  can  be  carried  on  at 
the  highest  point  of  efficiency,  and  the  drill  is  neces- 
sary for  the  fixing  of  a  habit,  there  is  no  use  bother- 
ing about  making  the  drill  merely  incidental,  unless 
there  are  other  considerations.  Those  who  claim 
that  drill  should  be  merely  incidental  certainly  have 
no  right  to  say  that  they  are  following  the  method 
of  nature,  for  nearly  all  the  time  of  the  early  years 
of  childhood  is  spent  in  continuous  repetition  of 
whatever  the  child  is  able  to  do.  The  problems  pre- 
sented by  drill  are  many,  such  as  the  length,  fre- 
quency, conditions  and  kinds.  Experimental  psy- 
chology can  not  yet  fully  answer  all  the  questions 
involved.  As  already  indicated,  the  drill  period 
should  be  short;  not  longer  than  a  high  degree  of 
attention  and  interest  can  be  maintained.  Vigorous 
drill  can  hardly  occupy  a  period  of  an  hour  for  an 
adult,  and  for  children  the  period  is  much  less,  the 
length  depending  on  age  and  individual  differences. 
A  half-hour  of  attention  sustained  at  the  highest 
point  does  pretty  well  for  adults,  and  half  that  time 
for  children.  The  proper  frequency  for  drills  or 
practice  is  not  yet  determined.  Although  it  seems 
probable,  in  the  light  of  recent  experiments,  that 
daily  practice  periods  are  better  than  practice  twice 
a  day  or  on  alternate  days.  It  is  probably  true  that 
for  adults  two  half-hour  periods  of  practice  daily 
are  better  than  one  single  hour  period.  But,  one 
practice  a  day,  to  the  point  of  fatigue,  is  prob- 
ably best.  It  is  not  economical,  as  regards  the 
total  amount  of  time,  to  push  practice  to  an  early 
conclusion.  The  formation  of  a  habit  is  to  some 
extent  a  growth,  and  growth  takes  time.  A 
neuro-muscular  organisation  is  involved,  and  a  cer- 


HABIT   AND   EDUCATION  151 

tain  amount  and  frequency  of  repetition  are  most 
favorable  for  this  organisation.  Pushing  a  habit 
to  an  early  fixation  may  sometimes  be  necessary  and 
desirable,  but  it  is  not  economical  from  the  point  of 
view  of  total  amount  of  time.  After  a  child  has  prac- 
ticed an  act  for  a  certain  length  of  time,  further  prac- 
tice at  that  time  is  nearly  useless;  so  also  is  prac- 
ticing useless  till  an  interval  has  elapsed.  Teachers 
probably  make  a  mistake  when  they  try  to  perfect  a 
habit  in  a  short  time.  In  the  light  of  our  present 
knowledge,  it  would  probably  be  the  best  procedure 
to  keep  up  frequent  and  vigorous  drill  for  a  time  and 
then  allow  some  days  for  a  rest.  But  drill  should  not 
be  finally  dropped  till  a  fair  degree  of  fixity  is  at- 
tained. The  conditions  of  drill  are  important,  inas- 
much as  they  must  always  be  such  as  to  furnish  the 
proper  degree  of  interest  and  attention.  All  the  at- 
tending circumstances  may  be  varied,  br;t  the  act 
itself  must  not  be  varied.  Two  times  three  must 
always  be  six,  but  it  can  be  six  in  a  great  variety  of 
situations.  Children  should  always  be  fresh  for 
practice  periods,  and  the  most  favorable  times  of  the 
day  should  be  taken  for  them.  It  is  much  easier  to 
maintain  attention  and  interest  in  presenting  new 
ideas  than  it  is  in  repeating  what  has  already  been 
done.  And  a  teacher  will  save  much  time  and  energy 
by  carefully  distributing  the  periods  of  practice  and 
varying  the  conditions  so  as  to  maintain  the  proper 
mental  attitude  for  the  right  results.  Dr.  Rowe  has 
given  some  good,  practical  directions  for  aiding 
pupils  that  have  a  habit  to  form.  He  suggests  that  a 
definite  number  of  repetitions  be  set  for  a  definite 
time  and  place.  If,  for  example,  the  matter  is  a  new 


152      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

trick  in  arithmetic  to  be  habituated,  a  definite  number 
of  problems  should  be  set  to  be  solved  at  a  definite 
time  and  place.  And  it  is  doubtless  well  to  go  into 
just  such  details  as  these.  It  is  not  sufficient  after 
establishing  a  new  principle  to  say,  ' '  Now  you  must 
practice  this."  But  rather  the  teacher  should  say, 
"Tonight,  at  eight  o'clock,  go  into  your  room,  where 
it  is  quiet,  and  do  this  ten  times. ' ' 

Exceptions.  —  The  psychology  of  exceptions  has 
already  been  discussed,  but  a  word  on  the  application 
of  these  principles  is  in  order.  The  teacher  has  two 
important  duties  here.  The  tremendous  importance 
of  preventing  exceptions  should  be  made  plain  to  the 
pupils.  And,  in  addition,  the  teacher  can  do  much 
to  help  the  child  in  preventing  exceptions;  he  can 
help  the  child  to  start  with  great  impetus ;  he  can  help 
to  remove  temptations  in  the  early  stages  of  fixation, 
and  by  appealing  to  other  interests  and  instincts  he 
can  help  to  maintain  ambition  for  success.  Older 
children  can  be  helped  much  by  having  the  principles 
of  habit-formation  explained  to  them,  and  none  of 
these  principles  is  of  more  importance,  perhaps,  than 
that  of  allowing  no  exceptions.  As  soon  as  children 
are  old  enough  for  the  knowledge  to  be  of  any  worth 
to  them  it  should  be  given  to  them.  The  teacher  can 
give  this  information  and  give  help  in  the  various 
ways  indicated  to  enable  them  to  put  the  principles 
to  successful  use.  Parents,  particularly  mothers, 
seem  never  to  realise  the  significance  of  exceptions, 
for  every  day  they  can  be  seen  to  display  the  great- 
est ignorance  or  folly.  After  weeks  of  training  in 
some  habit  a  child  is  allowed  to  make  a  flagrant  ex- 
ception, thereby  undoing  the  effect  of  practice.  In 


HABIT    AND   EDUCATION  153 

the  formation  of  a  habit  nothing  is  so  important  as 
absolute  regularity,  and  nothing  so  detrimental  to 
success  as  exceptions.  Therefore  both  teachers  and 
parents  should  be  careful  in  the  planning  of  habits 
to  be  formed,  but  when  the  work  is  once  determined 
upon  and  begun  the  course  outlined  should  be  pur- 
sued with  the  determination  of  a  bulldog  and  with 
the  regularity  of  planetary  motion.  Suppose,  for 
the  sake  of  an  illustration,  that  the  matter  under- 
taken is  to  put  a  baby  to  bed  and  have  it  go  to  sleep 
there  without  any  further  attention.  The  thing  is 
easy  enough  to  do,  but  suppose  that  after  a  few  weeks 
the  mother  takes  the  child  out  of  its  bed  to  fondle  it ; 
the  good  work  is  all  undone,  and  it  is  usually  harder 
to  get  the  baby  back  into  the  old  habit  of  quietly 
going  to  sleep  than  it  was  in  the  beginning.  And  it 
is  not  much  different  with  older  people.  The  very 
essence  of  habit  is  its  regularity  and  definiteness, 
and  it  can  not  be  established  except  by  regular  and 
definite  procedure.  There  is  nothing  doubtful  or 
mysterious  about  habits ;  they  are  as  definite  and  as 
dependent  upon  known  factors  as  are  the  things  of 
the  physical  world.  And  it  is  just  as  necessary  that 
one  proceed  in  accordance  with  the  principles  in- 
volved in  the  case  of  habit  as  it  is  in  such  a  matter 
as  building  a  bridge.  One  could  not  build  a  bridge 
without  taking  account  of  such  principles  as  gravita- 
tion, adhesion,  friction,  expansion  and  contraction, 
etc.;  but  if  one  take  into  account  all  the  principles 
and  facts  involved,  one  can  plan  a  bridge  in  every 
detail  and  be  confident  of  the  outcome  of  the  con- 
struction. The  situation  is  not  very  different  in 
forming  a  habit.  If  one  practice  under  the  proper 


154      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

conditions  and  allow  no  exceptions  to  occur,  there 
is  great  certainty,  allowing  for  individual  differences, 
of  what  the  outcome  will  be.  We  know  what  will  be 
the  outcome  of  three  months  of  practice  on  the  type- 
writer one  hour  each  day.  If  the  proper  kind  of 
practice  prevails  and  the  subject  maintains  the 
proper  attitude  and  health,  the  outcome  is  certain. 
There  will  be  some  individual  difference  due  to  na- 
tive capacity,  but  we  could  predict  what  the  average 
speed  and  accuracy  attained  would  be.  And,  more 
than  this,  the  psychologist  could  determine  by  an 
hour's  test  what  would  be  the  outcome  in  individual 
cases.  If  we  are  to  work  intelligently  in  the  matter 
of  habit-formation,  then,  teachers  and  parents  must 
know  the  laws  involved,  and  as  soon  as  it  is  worth 
while  these  laws  must  be  made  known  to  the  children 
themselves.  And  along  with  the  effects  of  practice 
comes  the  effect  of  an  exception.  The  great  impor- 
tance of  even  a  single  exception  is  due  to  the  effect 
it  has  upon  feeling  and  attitude.  It  is  not  so  much 
that  the  exception  opens  up  another  path  of  motor 
discharge  as  that  it  may  change  the  attitude  and  feel- 
ing of  the  individual. 

Rules  for  habit-formation. — In  James'  well  known 
chapter  on  Habit  he  lays  down  some  rules  for  guid- 
ing one  in  the  process  of  habit-formation.  These 
rules  and  principles  are  elaborated  in  Rowe's  book 
on  habit-formation,  constituting  the  main  part  of  the 
volume.  They  have  already  been  treated  in  our  dis- 
cussion of  the  laws  of  habit,  but  it  may  be  well  to 
bring  them  together  here  in  the  form  of  rules  for  the 
guidance  of  the  student.  The  rules  may  be  stated 
in  the  form  of  simple  commands:  (1)  Get  initiative. 


HABIT   AND   EDUCATION  155 

(2)  Get  practice.  (3)  Allow  no  exceptions.  Little 
further  need  be  said  concerning  them,  for  they  are 
based  upon  all  the  facts  and  principles  that  we  have 
been  considering.  By  initiative  we  mean  motive  and 
desire.  There  is  no  use  to  start  in  to  form  a  habit 
unless  we  can  put  our  whole  being  into  it.  We  must 
see  a  reason  for  the  habit  and  really  desire  it;  we 
must  have  a  purpose,  an  end  in  view.  Initiative  is 
supplied  mainly  from  instinct  and  habits  already 
formed,  as  well  as  from  the  feelings.  Therefore,  in 
looking  for  initiative,  we  must  call  the  roll  of  the  in- 
stincts to  see  which  are  available  for  functioning  in 
this  capacity,  then  we  must  call  the  roll  of  the  feel- 
ings. These  are  the  native  sources,  the  main  wells 
from  which  we  can  draw,  but  we  can  also  call  upon 
the  needs  and  desires  that  we  have  built  up  and  that 
have  a  basis  of  habit.  This  initial  motive  power  may 
come,  then,  from  our  fighting  instinct,  our  social  in- 
stinct, the  collecting  instinct,  from  love,  sympathy, 
etc.,  as  well  as  from  the  many  needs  that  arise  as  a 
result  of  our  previously  formed  habits.  An  illustra- 
tion or  two  will  make  the  point  sufficiently  clear.  Let 
us  take  the  matter  of  punctuality  at  school.  Initia- 
tive might  be  based  upon  any  number  of  instincts, 
emotions  and  habits.  A  child  might  want  to  come  on 
time  so  that  he  could  beat  some  other  person's  rec- 
ord, or  so  that  his  room  might  beat  the  record  of 
another  room, — the  fighting  instinct.  He  might  want 
to  come  early  in  order  to  be  with  the  other  children ; 
there  might  be  a  social  five  minutes,  the  first  thing 
in  the  morning, — this  would  appeal  to  the  social  in- 
stinct. He  might  want  to  come  early  in  order  to 
show  collections,  or  to  do  some  constructive  work,  or 


156      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

in  order  to  see  how  much  a  plant  had  grown  over 
night.  Or,  finally,  it  might  be  merely  in  response  to 
the  request  of  a  teacher  that  is  loved.  Some  of  these 
motives  will  work  for  one  child  and  some  for  another, 
some  at  one  time  and  some  at  another.  It  is  seldom 
that  a  tactful  teacher  can  not  find  some  way  to  arouse 
initiative.  And  when  children  are  older  it  is  seldom 
that  they  can  not  'get  up  steam'  in  preparation  for 
the  formation  of  a  habit.  The  factors  concerned  in 
practice  have  been  discussed  already.  We  have  seen 
that  practice  there  must  be  if  there  is  to  be  a  habit. 
To  be  most  effective  it  must  be  when  the  body  is  in 
good  condition,  and  must  stop  short  of  fatigue.  For 
this  reason  the  practice  intervals  should  be  short,  the 
length  of  time  depending  upon  the  age  of  the  indi- 
vidual. One  should  have  stated  and  definite  times 
for  practice.  The  practice  must  be  at  the  highest 
point  of  efficiency;  it  must  be  attentive  practice.  It 
may  be  well  to  give  some  illustrations  and  sugges- 
tions to  show  how  these  rules  may  be  observed.  In 
the  matter  of  initiative  it  is  well  when  we  start  in  to 
form  some  important  habit  to  tell  our  friends  so  that 
we  may  have  their  encouragement  to  strengthen  our 
initiative  and  to  help  us  to  prevent  exceptions.  It  is  a 
good  idea  to  identify  the  desired  habit  with  some 
other  aspect  of  life  so  that  the  latter  is  available  to 
strengthen  initiative.  Identifying  a  habit  with  other 
important  interests  not  only  gives  initiative,  but 
serves  to  keep  the  habit  in  mind,  and  thereby  leads  to 
practice  and  prevents  exceptions.  For  securing 
practice  there  are  many  devices,  such  as  signs  and 
mottoes  put  up  about  our  rooms ;  then,  also,  the  speci- 
fying the  time  and  place  and  manner  and  amount  of 
practice  is  helpful  in  securing  practice  and  prevent- 


HABIT  AND  EDUCATION  157 

ing  exceptions.  Suppose  the  habit  desired  be  rising 
at  an  early  hour.  We  must  make  thorough  prepara- 
tion in  the  way  of  initiative ;  we  must  really  want  to 
do  it  and  have  a  reason  for  doing  it.  To  be  sure  of 
making  a  good  start,  we  can  have  some  one  call  us 
at  the  desired  minute,  and  can  also  have  an  alarm 
clock.  We  must  be  sure  to  get  up  exactly  on  time, 
and  must  allow  no  exceptions,  especially  in  the  early 
stage.  Even  if  it  is  Sunday  morning  and  it  is  rain- 
ing, and  there  is  no  earthly  use  for  rising  at  the  early 
hour,  the  exception  must  not  be  made.  Suppose, 
again,  one  is  trying  to  break  up  the  habit  of  smoking : 
one  should  announce  it  to  one's  friends,  and  should 
even  seek  frequent  opportunities  of  being  offered 
cigars,  firmly  refusing  them,  saying  that  one  is  no 
longer  smoking.  It  is  surprising  what  the  outcome  is. 
However,  if  there  is  any  doubt  about  the  outcome  in 
such  a  case,  it  would  be  better  to  take  an  opposite 
course  by  starting  in  on  the  habit  at  a  time  when  it 
would  be  impossible  to  get  tobacco  for  some  days. 
One  of  the  most  difficult  things  to  do  is  to  break  up 
an  automatism,  an  act  that  has  gone  below  the  con- 
scious level.  The  trouble  is  that  one  performs  the 
act  before  one  is  aware  of  it.  The  way  to  success  is 
to  hit  upon  some  plan  of  bringing  the  act  to  con- 
sciousness. The  device  must  depend  upon  the  par- 
ticular habit  in  question.  A  pupil  of  the  author's 
once  succeeded  in  breaking  the  habit  of  biting  the 
lips  that  had  existed  since  childhood.  The  plan  used 
was  to  bite  the  lips  consciously  and  say,  "Now  I 
must  not  bite  my  lips."  By  doing  this  for  several 
times  it  came  about  that  when  she  would  bite  the  lips 
these  verbal  ideas  would  come  to  her  mind  and  finally 


158      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL.  PSYCHOLOGY 

enabled  her  to  refrain  from  the  act.  A  little  practice 
and  experimentation  on  the  part  of  a  teacher  will 
soon  reveal  to  him  in  a  vivid  fashion  the  facts  and 
principles  of  habit-formation,  and  much  better  fit 
him  for  the  direction  of  such  work  by  his  pupils. 

Habits  are  specific. — There  is  no  such  thing  as  the 
transfer  of  training.  A  habit  is  a  habit ;  it  will  func- 
tion where  it  will  function,  and  that  is  the  end  of  its 
usefulness.  It  may  very  well  be  that  one  habit  will 
function  in  a  much  larger  sphere  of  life  than  will 
others ;  the  field  of  usefulness  of  some  habits  may  be 
much  restricted,  while  that  of  others  is  large. 
Whether  there  be  general  habits  depends  upon  what 
we  mean  by  the  term.  It  is  the  nature  of  a  habit  to 
be  specific.  That  is  what  constitutes  it  a  habit, — defi- 
nite response  to  a  definite  situation.  There  is  a 
sense,  however,  in  which  habits  of  honesty,  truthful- 
ness, etc.,  are  general,  but  the  thing  that  is  general 
is  the  situation, — as  long  as  the  situations  are  meas- 
urably similar  we  may  have  the  habitual  response, 
but  it  usually  happens  that  a  variation  in  the  situa- 
tion fails  to  bring  the  usual  response.  For  example, 
such  a  thing  as  the  habit  of  neatness  may  fail  to 
function  when  the  pupil  works  under  a  different 
teacher,  or  perhaps  in  a  different  subject.  In  the 
strict  sense,  then,  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as 
formal  discipline  or  general  training,  but  at  the  same 
time  we  say  this,  we  must  say  that  there  may  be  habits 
formed  in  connection  with  certain  subjects  of  study 
that  will  function  in  many  more  situations  of  life 
than  will  those  that  are  built  up  in  connection  with 
other  subjects.  If  one  study  an  ancient  language,  he 
will  form  many  habits  that  will  function  in  the  study 


HABIT   AND   EDUCATION  159 

of  at  least  some  of  the  modern  languages,  but  they 
might  unfit  one  in  the  study  of  some  of  them.  It, 
indeed,  often  happens  that  the  training  acquired  in 
one  field  may  unfit  one  for  work  in  another  field.  It 
is  the  author's  experience,  for  example,  that  the 
habits  of  procedure  formed  by  a  student  of  philos- 
ophy unfit  him  for  the  study  of  experimental  psychol- 
ogy. For  in  the  latter  one  must  proceed  by  the  slow 
inductive  method  of  experimental  science.  The  phil- 
osophic mind,  accustomed  to  work  things  out  a  priori, 
is  too  impatient  to  sit  down  and  work  out  facts  as  a 
basis  for  its  conclusions.  As  a  rule,  in  every  profes- 
sion, one  finally  acquires  a  certain  way  of  attacking 
his  problems,  a  certain  mode  of  approach.  One  sees 
this  in  the  lawyer,  the  physician,  the  scientist.  The 
lawyer  asks, ' '  How  have  similar  cases  been  decided  ?  '  * 
The  doctor  asks,  "What  disease  have  we  hereT  What 
is  its  effect  on  the  individual?  What  drug  counter- 
acts this  effect?/*  etc.  So  it  turns  out  that  whatever 
one's  calling,  one  soon  comes  to  have  a  definite  ^ay 
of  meeting  the  usual  situation  that  confronts  him,  a 
procedure  that  works  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
but  that  may  not  be  adequate  for  different  situations. 
Habits,  then,  of  both  mental  procedure  and  physical 
procedure  are  rather  specific.  The  question,  there- 
fore, of  the  relative  value  of  the  different  studies 
turns  on  what  sort  of  habits  we  wish  to  acquire.  A 
study  of  mathematics  will  form  the  habit  of  looking 
for  the  quantitative  aspect  of  things.  The  study  of 
natural  and  physical  science  will  develop  the  habit  of 
looking  for  the  causal  aspects  of  things.  Since  all 
must  have  at  least  something  to  do  with  both  aspects 


160      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

of  the  world,  all  should  study  mathematics  as  well  as 
science.  The  fact  that  quantitative  relations  are 
nearly  always  important  is  what  gives  to  mathe- 
matics its  great  value,  not  that  it  has  any  general  dis- 
ciplinary effect  upon  the  mind.  When  we  are  con- 
cerned only  with  the  qualitative  aspects  of  things, 
mathematics  is  of  no  importance ;  it  might  even  unfit 
us  for  our  task.  For  example,  it  is  quite  possible 
that  the  mathematical  habit  that  must  balance  every 
equation  might  unfit  one  for  getting  the  general 
tendency  out  of  a  great  mass  of  data ;  might  unfit  one 
for  making  daring  generalisations  that  often  lead  to 
great  progress  in  science.  Of  course,  finally  in  every 
science  mathematics  must  come  in  and  have  its 
inning.  We  always  come  around  finally  to  ask  the 
question,  how  muchf  But  there  are  stages  in  the  de- 
velopment of  science  when  this  question  can  not  be 
put  for  the  reason  that  it  can  not  be  answered  and 
is  not  yet  of  as  much  importance  as  the  question, 
what?  In  psychology,  for  example,  we  have  first  to 
ask,  whatf  Our  first  problem  is  that  of  analysis. 
From  the  point  of  view  of  habit,  therefore,  the  duty 
of  the  teacher  is  to  assist  the  pupil  in  the  formation 
of  habits  that  will  enable  him  to  meet  the  various 
situations  that  will  confront  him  in  the  life  that  he 
will  have  to  lead.  Inasmuch  as  we  live  in  the  same 
society,  there  are  many  habits  that  should  be  the  same 
for  all.  This  is  our  general  culture,  so  called.  Inas- 
much as  we  must  do  different  things,  we  must  have 
different  habits.  This  constitutes  our  special  train- 
ing. The  carpenter  and  the  doctor  should  have  com- 
mon habits  of  honesty  and  truthfulness,  but  the  car- 


HABIT   AND   EDUCATION  161 

penter  must  be  expert  at  driving  nails,  while  the  doc- 
tor must  be  expert  at  making  pills.  The  fact  that 
training  is  specific  can  hardly  be  too  much  empha- 
sised. In  planning  courses  of  study,  while,  of  course, 
we  should  not  lose  sight  of  ideals  and  knowledge,  we 
should  work  out  very  carefully  what  forms  of  skill 
the  training  is  going  to  provide  and  whether  this 
skill  will  be  what  the  future  environment  will  de- 
mand of  the  child.  The  school  has  made  many  of 
its  greatest  mistakes  in  believing,  without  carefully 
working  the  matter  out,  that  it  was  giving  training 
that  would  meet  the  demands  of  the  future.  The 
teacher  worked  on  in  the  hope  that  he  was  giving  a 
training  that  some  day  would  be  useful.  There  has 
been  too  much  vagueness,  too  much  done  under  the 
vague  name  of  'culture.'  What  we  need  is  a  careful 
analysis  of  the  future  needs  of  the  child  in  the  life 
that  he  is  to  live,  and  then  a  careful  planning  of  the 
habits  and  ideals  that  he  will  need  in  that  life.  Then 
the  developing  of  these  ideals  and  the  forming  of 
these  habits  is  the  work  of  the  school.  If  one  wishes 
to  know  how  much  vagueness  there  is  in  this  regard, 
let  him  ask  the  average  Latin  teacher  why  a  student 
should  study  Latin.  We  need  to  clear  our  school 
curriculums  of  a  lot  of  rubbish  and  plan  a  curriculum 
in  the  light  of  modern  conditions  and  modern  needs. 
Everything  that  we  cannot  justify  should  be  thrown 
out,  and  this  justification  should  be  future  useful- 
ness, whether  the  matter  be  ideas  or  habits.  Of 
course,  usefulness  must  have  a  liberal  interpretation, 
not  merely  a  monetary  one.  We  should  have  in  mind 
the  best  sort  of  life  in  the  best  sort  of  society. 


162      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOB  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  Make  a  list  of  those  studies  in  the  curriculum  that  are  chiefly 
matters  of  idea  getting,  and  another  list  of  those  that  are  chiefly 
matters  of  habit  formation. 

2.  Show  that  no  study  is  wholly  either  one  or  the  other. 

3.  Make  a  complete  outline  for  the  procedure  in  the  formation 
of  a  habit  related  to  arithmetic  or  other  school  subject.     When 
you,  as  a  teacher,  have  the  opportunity  to  do  so,  make  a  careful 
record  of  the  results  of  using  such  a  plan. 

4.  Compare  the  amount  of  time  that  should  be  spent  in  habit 
getting  with  the  time  that  should  be  spent  in  getting  ideas.     Will 
this  vary  for  different  grades? 

5.  Can  you  give  from  your  own  experience  an  illustration  of  the 
principle  involved  in  learning  to  swim  in  winter  and  to  skate  in 
summer?     How  far  is  this  principle  true  and  what  is  its  appli- 
cation? 

6.  If  the  above  principle  is  true,  why  is  it  that  a  pianist  can 
not  play  as  well  after  failure  to  practice  for  a  long  time?    Have 
you  any  evidence  showing  the  value  of  a  little  rest  of  a  few  days 
or  weeks  in  the  midst  of  vigorous  practice  in  some  art? 

7.  If  there  is  any  trick  of  your  early  days, — such  as  tossing  up 
several  balls  at  the  same  time, — that  you  have  not  performed  for 
years,  try  it  now  and  compare  your  skill  after  just  a  little  practice 
with  the  skill  of  your  early  performance. 

8.  If  knowledge  is  only  to  aid  and  guide  in  response,  should  we 
study  in  school  branches,  that  which  will  never  be  of  any  practical 
use  to  us? 

9.  Try  the  experiment  of  learning  some  trick  by  practicing  fif- 
teen minutes  a  day  while  another  person  learns  it  by  practicing 
thirty  minutes  a  day,  then  try  learning  some  other  trick,  reversing 
the   length  of  practice  periods.     What  do  you   learn   from  the 
experiment? 

10.  What  is  the  disadvantage  of  keeping  a  child  in  a  grade  that 
is  too  hard  or  too  easy  for  him? 

11.  Show  how  drill  can  be  made  incidental  in  various  school 
branches. 

12.  Give  from  your  own  experience  methods  that  secure  atten- 
tion and  interest  in  drill  work  in  the  different  school  subjects. 
Note  that  you  have  to  rely  upon   some  instinct  or  some  strong 
acquired  interest 

13.  Is  it  "teaching  a  dangerous  doctrine"  to  say  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  form  habits  late  in  life? 

14.  Indicate  the  various  aspects  of  a  child's  life  that  may  be 
appealed  to  to  get  up  initiative  for  the  formation  of  the  habit  of 
prompt  attendance  at  school. 

15.  What  devices  have  you  used  to  keep  in  mind  some  act  that 
you  wished  to  make  habitual? 

16.  What  value  is  there  in  committing  to  memory  short  sayings 


HABIT   AND   EDUCATION  163 


and  associating  them   to  certain  acts  that  one  wishes  to  make 
habitual? 

17.  From  the  point  of  view  of  habit,  what  is  the  function  of 
education? 

18.  What  branches  in  the  high  school  involve  the  formation  of 
habits  that  function  generally  in  life? 

19.  Name  some  habits  that  are  fairly  general  in  their  applica- 
bility. 

20.  Give  illustrations  to  show  that,  strictly  speaking,  all  habits 
are  narrow  and  specific. 

21.  Give  from  your  experience  illustrations  to  show  the  great 
harm  caused  by  allowing  exceptions  to  enter  in  the  process  of 
habit-formation. 

REFERENCES. 

Most  of  the  references  given  at  the  end  of  the  preceding  chapter 
treat  also  of  the  relation  of  education  to  habit.  See  also :  Rowe, 
Habit  Formation,  1909,  Chs.  vi-xiii;  P.  Radestock,  Habit  and  Its 
Importance  in  Education,  translated  by  F.  A.  Caspar!,  1886 ; 
W.  F.  Book,  The  R6le  of  the  Teacher  in  the  Most  Expeditious 
and  Economic  Learning,  in  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology, 
Vol.  i,  p.  183 ;  also  his  Psychology  of  Skill,  cited  in  the  preceding 
list ;  E.  J.  Swift,  Re-learning  a  Skillful  Act,  in  Psych.  Bui,  1907, 
Vol.  vii,  p.  17 ;  also  Learning  to  Telegraph,  in  Psych.  Bul.t  Vol.  vii, 
p.  149. 

On  the  General  Effects  of  Special  Exercise,  see:  S.  H.  Rowe, 
Habit-Formation,  1909,  pp.  243-250 ;  C.  H.  Judd,  Relation  of  Special 
Training  to  General  Intelligence,  in  Educational  Review,  Vol. 
xxxvi,  p.  28 ;  E.  L.  Thorndike  and  R.  S.  Woodworth,  The  Influence 
of  Improvement  in  One  Mental  Function  Upon  the  Efficiency  of 
Other  Functions,  in  Psychological  Review,  Vol.  viii,  p.  247;  J.  R. 
Angell,  Formal  Discipline  in  the  Light  of  the  Principles  of  General 
Psychology,  in  Educational  Review,  Vol.  xxxvii,  p.  1 ;  Angell  and 
Coover,  General  Practice  Effect  of  Special  Exercise,  in  American 
Journal  of  Psychology,  xviii,  p.  328;  S.  S.  Colvin,  The  Learning 
Process,  1911,  Chs.  xiv,  xv,  xyi. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
HABIT  AND  MOBAL  TRAINING.* 

Importance  of  the  problem. — No  educational  prob- 
lem is  more  in  need  of  solution  just  now  than  the 
problem  of  moral  training.  Teachers  are  asking  for 
principles  to  guide  them  in  their  attempt  to  make 
good  citizens  out  of  their  pupils.  Parents  are  calling 
upon  science  for  knowledge  concerning  the  laws  of 
mental  and  moral  growth,  and  are  looking  to  psy- 
chology in  particular  for  information  that  will  help 
them  in  training  their  children.  Many  people  feel 
that  the  schools  and  colleges  are  not  doing  all  that 
they  can  do  for  the  moral  development  of  the  young 
people  in  them.  And  it  is  often  said  that  the  schools 
have  made  much  greater  progress  in  methods  that 
lead  to  intellectual  development  than  in  methods  of 
moral  training.  Now,  there  is  some  truth  in  these 
charges,  and  just  in  so  far  as  there  is  truth  in  them, 
so  far  is  education  a  failure.  Education  ought  to 
give  efficiency  and  control.  Society  demands  of 
parents  and  the  schools  young  people  prepared  to  do 
something  well,  understanding  the  nature  and  rela- 
tions of  her  fundamental  institutions,  knowing  how 
to  do,  each  his  part,  in  the  great  whole ;  and,  most  im- 
portant of  all,  trained  to  do  that  part.  The  parents 
and  schools  have  charge  of  the  individual  for  about 
one-fourth  of  his  life.  Surely,  then,  society  has  the 

*Thls  chapter,  in  essentially  Its  present  form,  was  first  published 
in  School  and  Home  Education  for  February,  1910. 

[114] 


HABIT   AND   MOBAL,   TBAINING  165 

right  to  demand  that  the  individual  be  given  sufficient 
training  to  prepare  for  reliable  action  in  all  the  com- 
plex relations  of  life. 

Futility  of  recent  discussions. — Recent  discussions 
of  the  problem  of  moral  training  give  little  help  to 
either  parent  or  teacher.  This  is  largely  because  the 
question  has  been  approached  from  the  wrong  point 
of  view.  For  the  most  part,  the  writers  on  this  sub- 
ject concern  themselves  with  religious,  ethical  and 
sociological  discussions  and  speculations.  Now,  the 
question  is  not  a  matter  of  religion,  and  all  that  ethics 
and  sociology  can  do  is  to  establish  the  goal,  set  up 
the  end,  to  be  attained  by  moral  training.  But  on 
this  point  there  is  already  general  agreement. 
Teachers  know  the  kind  of  citizen  that  is  desired. 
Every  father  knows  what  sort  of  man  he  would  have 
his  son  become.  What  is  wanted  by  both  parents 
and  teachers  is  information  concerning  the  laws  of 
mental  development,  and  methods  of  training 
planned  in  harmony  with  these  laws, — methods  that 
will  lead  to  certain,  definite,  desirable  action. 

Moral  training  and  psychology. — The  laws  of  men- 
tal development  and  methods  of  training  planned  in 
accordance  with  these  laws  are  problems  for  psychol- 
ogy. It  is  to  psychology  that  we  must  look  for  the 
help  that  everybody  desires.  What,  then,  has  psy- 
chology to  say?  Before  attempting  an  answer,  it 
may  be  well  to  state  a  little  more  fully  the  aim  of 
moral  training.  The  question,  of  course,  is:  what 
shall  be  our  criterion  for  morality?  In  a  general  way, 
we  may  say  that  a  person  has  a  good  moral  character 
who  responds  to  all  the  various  situations  of  life  in 
a  way  conducive  to  the  welfare  of  himself  and  soci- 


166      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

ety.  Beduced  to  its  simplest  terms,  this  means  ap- 
propriate response  to  stimuli,  a  proper  co-ordination 
of  action  and  perception.  What  this  appropriate  re- 
sponse, this  proper  co-ordination,  is,  society  always 
has  the  right  to  say,  and  it  says  different  things  at 
different  times.  The  moral  ideal  is  a  growth,  is  an 
evolution,  just  as  all  other  educational  ideals  are; 
there  is  nothing  absolute  about  it.  The  moral  ideal 
is  the  conception  that  society  has  reached  of  the  ac- 
tion of  its  members  that  will  best  lead  to  the  good  of 
the  whole.  This  conception  changes,  but  in  any  gen- 
eration it  must  be  taken  as  the  guide  for  the  moral 
training  of  the  young.  There  is  nothing  mysterious 
or  mythological  in  the  matter.  Society  demands — 
and  has  the  right  to  demand — that  its  members  be  so 
trained  that  they  will,  as  the  occasion  arises,  imme- 
diately and  regularly  respond  in  a  way  beneficial  to 
the  general  welfare.  Given  situations  demand  defi- 
nite types  of  action,  definite  responses.  Considering 
the  situation  as  the  stimulus,  we  may  say  that  the 
essence  of  moral  training  consist!  in  co-ordinating 
with  stimuli  their  appropriate  responses.  The  prob- 
lem for  psychology  is  to  work  out  the  laws  of  mental 
development,  and,  in  the  light  of  these  laws,  pre- 
scribe methods  for  the  training  of  the  young,  to  the 
end  that  they  may  reach  the  standard  set  up  by 
society. 

Psychology  is  not  able  at  present  to  give  a  com- 
plete solution  to  the  problem,  but  it  is  able  at  least 
to  indicate  the  nature  of  the  solution.  All  that  we 
have  said  in  discussing  instincts  and  habits  applies 
to  moral  training  in  just  the  same  way  as  it  applies  to 
other  training.  For  psychology,  moral  training  is 


HABIT   AND   MOBAL   TBAININQ  167 

the  same  sort  of  problem  as  that  of  training  in  gen- 
eral. It  falls  under  the  psychology  of  action.  A  per- 
son of  good  moral  character  is  one  who  habitually 
does  the  right  thing  at  the  right  time.  Now,  the  na- 
ture of  habitual  action  is  that  it  is  more  or  less  reflex. 
Moral  training,  then,  must  seek  to  establish  reflex 
responses  to  the  various  situations  of  life.  One  of 
the  principles  of  action  is  that  the  more  often  a  cer- 
tain movement  follows  upon  a  given  stimulus,  the 
more  certainly  and  easily  will  it  follow  with  each 
succeeding  presentation  of  that  stimulus.  This  is  the 
nature  of  the  problem  of  moral  training  as  psychol- 
ogy sees  it,  and  this,  in  outline,  is  the  nature  of  the 
solution  offered. 

Must  be  based  on  definite  principles. — Methods  of 
moral  training  must  be  based  on  established  prin- 
ciples. These  principles  are,  as  we  have  already  said, 
the  laws  of  development.  The  child  is  the  product  of 
evolution,  of  ages  of  development,  the  result  of  long 
conflict  with  the  forces  of  nature — with  wind  and 
storm,  seas  and  mountains,  burning  heat  and  great 
continent-wide  glaciers,  with  earthquakes  and  all 
manner  of  catastrophes.  There  has  been  also  the 
conflict  with  the  forms  of  life  from  the  microscopic 
bacteria  to  the  huge  brutes  of  tho  forest  and  jungle. 
And,  too,  there  has  been  the  struggle  of  man  with 
man,  the  conflict  of  muscle  and  of  wit.  As  the  heri- 
tage of  it  all,  we  have  the  child  of  today.  "The  soul 
is  thus  the  product  of  heredity.  As  such,  it  has  been 
hammered,  moulded,  shocked  and  worked  by  the 
stern  law  of  labor  and  suffering  into  its  present  crude 
form.  It  is  covered  with  scars  and  wounds  not  yet 
healed.  It  is  still  in  the  rough  and  patchworky,  full 


168      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

of  contradictions,  although  the  most  marvelous  of  all 
the  products  of  nature."  If  we  are  to  know  how  to 
train  the  child  aright,  we  must  know  something  of 
all  this  history  and  the  kind  of  child  finally  be- 
queathed to  the  present. 

The  child  is  born  with  a  few  co-ordinations  of  re- 
sponse to  stimulus  ready  formed.  As  it  grows  older, 
many  other  inherited  responses  come  into  play.  The 
child  can  not  escape  its  ancestry.  The  hand  of  the 
past  is  upon  it.  And  here  our  work  begins.  These 
inherited  responses  are  our  starting  point.  The  first 
task  of  psychology,  in  +he  matter  of  moral  training, 
is  to  establish  the  order  and  time  of  appearance  of 
instincts,  their  relation  to  one  another  and  to  the 
environment.  This  we  have  endeavored  to  do  in  the 
earlier  chapters.  The  principles  of  the  inhibition  of 
movement  and  the  laws  governing  the  formation  of 
habits,  also  outlined  in  preceding  chapters,  are  of 
great  service  here. 

The  instincts  and  moral  training. — One  of  the  im- 
portant instincts  available  for  moral  training  is  imi- 
tation. When  about  one  year  of  age  the  child  tries  to 
imitate  everything  it  sees.  The  child  does  as  it  sees 
others  do.  It  responds  to  situations  as  it  sees 
others  responding.  If  parents  and  companions  swear 
when  they  strike  their  fingers  instead  of  the  nail,  so 
does  the  child.  If  they,  on  certain  occasions,  respond 
with  angry  word  or  look,  so  does  the  child.  The 
child's  companions  become  its  models  for  action. 
Therefore  imitation,  as  the  world  long  has  known, 
is  one  of  the  most  important  factors  available  for 
moral  training,  as  for  all  other  forms  of  training. 

Not  only  must  all  the  instincts  be  taken  into  ac- 


HABIT   AND   MOBAL   TRAINING  169 

count,  but  the  whole  nature  of  the  developing  child. 
The  child  should  lead  a  natural,  healthy  life.  He 
should  be  hammered  and  moulded  by  his  environment 
much  as  his  ancestors  have  been.  To  this  end  he 
should  have  provided  a  rich  and  varied  environment. 
And  really  all  that  teachers  and  parents  can  do  for 
him  is  to  manipulate  this  environment.  The  child  is 
to  be  taught  as  far  as  possible  in  nature's  way.  The 
child  should  know  much  of  the  natural  environment : 
hill  and  valley,  wood  and  stream,  animal  and  plant, 
fishing,  hunting,  swimming  and  all  sorts  of  out-door 
experiences  and  activities.  The  relations  with  com- 
panions should  be  many,  varied  and  intimate.  The 
child  should  learn,  by  experience,  the  natural  conse- 
quence of  action.  The  environment  should  be  manip- 
ulated to  this  end,  and  only  sufficiently  to  contribute 
to  this  end  and  to  the  formation  of  healthy  habits  of 
response.  The  manipulation  of  the  environment 
must,  then,  have  in  view  two  things :  1.  The  child  is 
to  live  a  life  rich  in  experience,  many  sided,  full  and 
complete ;  2.  The  child  should  always  suffer  the  con- 
sequences of  his  action,  in  terms  of  pain  and  pleas- 
ure, deprivation  and  reward,  loss  of  freedom  and 
liberty.  The  child  must  find  on  every  hand  invaria- 
bility and  absolute  regularity.  A  lawful  environ- 
ment means  a  lawful  child.  A  lawful  environment, 
however,  is  not  one  of  punishment  and  harshness 
only.  A  large  part  of  this  environment  should  be 
love  and  sympathy,  for  the  child  is  a  creature  of  feel- 
ing and  emotion  as  well  as  of  will  and  action.  Feel- 
ing and  action  are  always  most  intimately  associated, 
and  it  is  quite  as  important  to  see  that  appropriate 
response  reaps  its  reward  in  pleasure  as  to  see  that 


170      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

inappropriate  response  reaps  its  reward  in  pain. 
The  close  relation  to  nature  is  to  be  fostered  in  or- 
der to  develop  a  healthy,  natural  animal  as  the  basis 
of  moral  action.  No  actions  are  intrinsically  bad; 
they  should  be  judged  by  their  results.  Children,  in 
their  relations  with  one  another,  should  learn  the 
natural  consequence  of  action,  the  natural  results  of 
given  forms  of  conduct,  and  be  allowed,  as  far  as 
possible,  to  suffer  this  natural  consequence,  so  that 
this  result,  this  consequence,  can  have  its  due  influ- 
ence in  determining  the  next  action  in  the  same  situ- 
ation, and  so  finally  lead  to  the  formation  of  the  most 
desirable  co-ordination  of  response  and  stimulus.  If 
one  picture  to  oneself  the  way  in  which  conduct  was 
determined  among  primitive  men,  one  will  get  some 
notion  of  the  way  in  which  conduct  should  still  be 
determined.  Doubtless  the  hard  knocks  of  primitive 
man  in  the  fierce  conflict  with  nature  and  with  his 
fellows  led  to  a  very  definite  sort  of  response.  The 
child's  environment  today  should  be  allowed  to  work 
out  a  response  no  less  definite.  Every  instinct  is  to 
be  taken  account  of,  some  use  can  be  made  of  every 
one  of  them.  Even  fear  has  its  place,  and  in  the  nat- 
ural course  of  events  will  help  in  bringing  about  the 
desired  co-ordination.  Account  must  be  taken  of  the 
instinct  of  play.  In  the  early  years  of  the  child's 
life  it  will  be  of  great  service  in  revealing  the  nature 
of  the  world  to  the  child  and  in  securing  for  him  a 
rich  experience,  which,  as  we  have  said  above,  is  of 
so  much  importance.  In  later  childhood  and  youth 
it  will  be  of  inestimable  value  in  teaching  the  child 
how  to  live  in  the  social  organism,  teaching  him  his 
place  and  the  rights  of  his  fellows. 


HABIT   AND   MOBAL   TBAININQ  171 

Ideals  of  action. — Another  principle  available  for 
moral  trainingisthe  tendency  for  action  tofollowupon 
an  idea.    The  idea  of  an  action  that  has  been  per- 
formed will  be  followed  by  similar  action  unless  an  in- 
hibiting idea  arises.    In  the  presence  of  a  given  situ- 
ation the  child  will  have  an  idea  of  an  action  that  he 
has  performed  or  has  seen  others  perform  under  the 
same  circumstances.    The  idea  of  the  action  is  fol- 
lowed by  the  action.    This  is  the  beginning  of  the 
formation  of  a  reflex  response.    With  continued  rep- 
etition of  situation  and  response,  the  perception  of 
the  stimulus  is  followed  by  the  response.    It  is  this 
fact  alone  that  gives  any  value  to  moral  teaching,  to 
developing  ideals  of  action.    The  psychological  prin- 
ciple involved  is  this:   a  child  can  be  taught  that  a 
certain  type  of  situation  should  give  rise  to  a  certain 
type  of  action.    As  a  mere  matter  of  memory,  when 
such  a  situation  arises,  the  individual  remembers 
what  sort  of  action  is  appropriate;  the  idea  of  the 
action  goes  over  into  the  action  itself.     What  we 
should  say  is  that  it  may  do  it;  the  idea  goes  over  to 
the  act,  provided  there  is  no  inhibiting  idea.    It  is 
just  the  fact  that  there  are  practically  always  inhib- 
iting ideas  that  makes  formal  moral  teaching  of  so 
little  value.    A  child  could  be  taught  in  a  few  hours 
the  proper  sort  of  actions  for  a  whole  lifetime.    But 
afterward  the  child  must  have  practice  in  following 
the  idea  up  by  the  act,  so  that  inhibiting  ideas  will 
not  be  able  to  interfere  in  the  future.    In  fact,  what 
holds  with  all  other  forms  of  training  holds  here  with 
even  greater  force.    It  does  not  take  long  to  learn 
the  principles  involved  in  any  trade  or  art,  but  it 
takes  a  lot  of  practice  to  make  one  worth  anything 


172      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

in  their  practice.  So  it  does  not  take  long  to  learn 
all  the  moral  principles,  but  it  takes  a  good  deal  of 
practice  before  the  response  and  stimulus  are  very 
definitely  connected. 

Inhibition. — The  principle  of  inhibition  is  impor- 
tant. The  first  responses  to  a  situation  may  lead  to 
pain,  and  in  the  future  the  situation  may  call  up  the 
idea  of  the  pain,  and  this  idea  of  the  pain  serve  to 
inhibit  the  sort  of  response  given  formerly,  and  a 
habit  of  action  eventually  be  formed  quite  different 
from  the  first  response.  Much  depends  on  first  expe- 
riences. Almost  any  sort  of  response  can  be  acquired 
for  any  situation.  To  draw  an  illustration  from  the 
instinct  of  fear,  a  child's  reaction  to  the  presence  of 
a  certain  animal,  say  a  dog,  is  determined  by  his  first 
experience  with  that  animal,  and  it  may  take  a  long 
time  for  different  experiences  to  vary  that  type  of 
response.  All  of  the  child's  responses  are  subject 
to  the  same  fortuitous  determination.  A  little  care- 
lessness on  the  part  of  parents  relative  to  the  early 
experience  of  children  is  apt  to  lead  to  the  formation 
of  habits  of  response  that  will  require  a  world  of 
trouble  and  patience  to  undo  later.  As  a  rule,  no 
habituated  response  should  be  formed  that  must  be 
radically  undone  later. 

Repetition  and  moral  training. — Repetition  under- 
lies habit,  and  habit  is  the  basis  of  character.  The 
continued  repetition  of  the  same  response  to  the 
same  stimulus  fixes  the  co-ordination,  makes  it  more 
and  more  certain  and  inevitable.  It  is  this  principle 
that  makes  any  kind  of  training  possible.  During 
the  period  of  plasticity  of  the  psychophysical  organ- 
ism it  is  relatively  easy  to  establish  almost  any  sort 


T  HABIT   AND   MOBAL   TEAININQ  173 

of  co-ordination.  "Without  this  principle  of  definite- 
ness  of  co-ordination  as  the  result  of  repetition  the 
formation  of  character  would  be  impossible,  for  fix- 
ity would  be  impossible,  and  one  could  never  know 
how  any  individual  would  act  in  any  circumstance. 
We  are,  then,  to  take  advantage  of  our  knowledge  of 
the  nature  of  the  child  and  of  our  power  to  manipu- 
late the  child's  environment  in  securing  the  repetition 
of  the  desired  responses  and,  as  a  result  of  the  repe- 
tition, the  formation  of  definite  types  of  action. 

In  securing  this  necessary  repetition  parents  and 
teachers  must  be  the  constant  associates  of  the  child, 
leading  it  through  all  the  various  environments  and 
situations.  The  child  gets  the  cue  to  his  action  from 
them  and  by  repetition  comes  to  do  it  naturally  and 
as  a  matter  of  course.  Pain,  as  the  natural  outcome 
of  the  violation  of  law,  personal  or  social,  is  to  aid 
in  securing  the  appropriate  response.  The  right  re- 
sponse is  the  important  thing,  and  must  be  secured 
by  any  and  all  means,  sometimes  even  against  the  will 
of  the  child,  and  compelled  by  force  if  necessary.  The 
appropriate  response  must  be  secured  and  continued 
until  it  follows  as  a  matter  of  course.  It  must  be 
pointed  out  that  such  a  procedure  necessitates  that 
parents  be  the  constant  companions  of  their  children. 
This  they  can  not  be  if  the  father  is  entirely  en- 
grossed with  his  business  and  the  mother  with  teas 
and  clubs.  Some  day  we  shall  learn  that  the  most 
important  business  of  parents  is  the  education  and 
training  of  their  children,  through  constant  compan- 
ionship, help  and  sympathy. 

The  school  and  the  home  in  moral  training. — And 
when  the  teacher  undertakes  a  part  of  the  work  of 


174      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

training  the  child  he  must  proceed  in  accordance  with 
the  same  principles.  But  too  much  has  been  turned 
over  to  the  cchools,  too  much  is  expected  of  them. 
The  home  is  the  natural  place  for  education,  but  the 
home  has  turned  over,  one  after  another,  almost  all 
of  its  responsibilities  to  the  schools,  and  now  parents 
censure  the  schools  for  not  doing  well  the  things  that 
they  themselves  have  shirked.  The  child  has  little 
business  in  school  before  the  age  of  eight,  and  it  is 
in  the  first  eight  years  of  its  life  that  the  foundations 
of  moral  training  must  be  laid.  If  all  is  well  done  in 
these  first  eight  years,  there  is  little  to  do  later, — 
little  exc?pt  to  keep  the  environment  favorable  for 
the  development  of  the  moral  character,  whose  basis 
is  already  laid.  The  center  of  gravity  of  education 
must  be  shifted  back  to  the  home  where  it  belongs, 
and  parents  must  assume  again  the  greater  part  of 
the  responsibility  for  the  moral  training  of  their  chil- 
dren. For  this  responsibility  the  parents  must  be 
trained.  This  business  of  rearing  children  should  be 
in  large  measure  the  function  of  the  mother,  and  for 
this  great  duty  she  should  be  especially  prepared. 
Women  are  crying  for  the  ballot,  for  admission  into 
all  sorts  of  occupations  and  professions  where  they 
are  not  fitted  by  nature  to  be.  Here  is  a  work  that 
would  serve  as  an  avenue  for  the  expenditure  of  all 
their  energy  and  ingenuity,  a  work  than  which  there 
is  no  greater,  to  which  they  are  by  nature  especially 
adapted.  The  whole  education  of  women  and  all  her 
professional  training  should  be  directed  toward  this 
end.  This  training  and  preparation  should  include 
a  knowledge  of  physiology,  hygiene  and  dietetic  prin- 
ciples, nursing  and  the  cure  and  prevention  of  dis- 


HABIT   AND   MORAL   TRAINING  175 

ease,  plumbing  and  everything  connected  with  the 
sanitation  of  the  home,  genetic  psychology  and  neu- 
rology, and  everything  that  a  scientific  pedagogy  can 
teach  concerning  the  education  of  children,  every- 
thing that  art  can  teach  her  that  will  enable  her  to 
beautify  the  home.  All  this  is  for  her  professional 
training.  For  her  cultural  development  she  should 
have  the  same  education  as  man.  If  woman  will  take 
over  and  solve  this  problem  of  the  training  and  nur- 
ture of  children,  she  will  be  doing  her  full  share  of 
labor  for  society,  and  should  be  relieved  of  her  work 
as  shop  girl  and  typewriter.  The  schools  can  help 
in  the  work  of  moral  training  and  have  their  share 
of  the  work  to  do,  but  the  greater  burden  falls  to  the 
home,  and  will  never  be  well  done  until  it  is  well  done 
there. 

Practical  moral  training.  —  Moral  training  is  to 
begin  with  the  birth  of  the  child.  It  should  begin 
with  regularity  in  feeding,  in  exercise  and  in  excre- 
tion. The  child  should  early  learn  that  this  is  a 
world  of  law  and  order.  The  lesson  of  absolute  and 
implicit  obedience  should  be  learned  early  and 
learned  well ;  then  other  training  comes  more  easily. 
As  fast  as  the  child  meets  the  various  situations  of 
life  and  is  capable  of  responding  to  them,  it  should 
be  led  to  make  the  correct  response.  Training  can 
come  early  in  such  matters  as  personal  hygiene, 
relation  to  other  children  and  older  people,  polite 
behavior  at  the  table  and  even  in  the  general  conduct 
of  their  lives.  In  all  these  matters  the  child  should 
and  can  be  taught  to  give  immediately  the  proper 
response  as  the  various  occasions  arise.  These  re- 
sponses can,  by  adequate  repetition,  be  made  certain 


176      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

and  definite.  To  illustrate:  A  friend  arrives,  the 
child's  hand  extends  in  greeting;  food  is  passed  to 
the  child;  it  responds  with,  "I  thank  you;"  the  child 
by  accident  steps  on  its  neighbor's  toes  and  responds 
with,  *  *  I  beg  your  pardon ; ' '  the  child  gets  some  candy 
and  puts  away  a  piece  "to  save  for  papa;"  a  play- 
mate has  an  accident  and  is  in  pain;  the  child  re- 
sponds with  such  aid  and  sympathy  as  it  knows  how 
to  give.  In  all  the  various  situations  of  life  that  con- 
front the  child  it  is  to  be  led  by  parents  and  teachers 
to  make  the  proper  response.  By  invariable  repeti- 
tion these  responses  are  to  be  reduced  to  the  realm 
of  habit,  and  are  to  fall  largely  under  the  control  of 
the  lower  nerve  centers. 

Most  of  the  situations  of  childhood  are  simple,  but 
the  principle  applies  in  the  more  complex  relations 
of  later  life.  Do  we  not  know  pretty  well  how  our 
friends  will  act  on  any  given  occasion  and  in  any  sit- 
uation? To  a  considerable  extent  we  do,  and  this  is 
possible  only  because  these  friends  have  been  re- 
sponding in  a  definite  way  to  such  situations  all  their 
lives,  and  it  is  not  possible  for  them  to  act  otherwise 
than  as  they  do.  It  is  this  definite  kind  of  response,  in 
fact,  that  constitutes  the  chief  difference  between  one 
man  and  another.  Every  individual  establishes  for 
himself  certain  forms  of  response;  these  become 
more  and  more  automatic  and  mechanical ;  they  come 
to  be  a  part  of  the  man ;  they  are  to  be  taken  account 
of  in  our  dealings  with  him,  for  they  are  the  man. 
Now,  if  an  individual  is  a  "bundle  of  habits,"  if 
every  one  sooner  or  later  acquires  pretty  definite 
modes  of  response  to  all  the  situations  of  life,  the 
question  of  moral  training  becomes  a  very  simple  one 


HABIT   AND   MOBAL   TBAININQ  177 

in  theory,  however  hard  it  may  be  to  carry  it  out  in 
practice.  All  that  is  required  is  to  bring  about  on 
the  part  of  the  child  the  appropriate  response,  to 
lead  to  the  formation  of  such  a  bundle  of  habits  as 
will  be  most  conducive  to  the  welfare  of  the  child  and 
society.  Moral  training,  as  stated  above,  turns  out 
to  be  of  the  same  nature  as  training  in  general.  Edu- 
cation as  a  whole  becomes  the  formation  of  a 
"hierarchy  of  habits.'*  We  teach  a  child  to  say  for 
two  plus  two, ' '  four ; ' '  for  three  plus  two, ' '  five ; ' '  for 
two  times  four,  "eight,"  and  so  on.  We  also  teach 
him  to  observe  closely,  think  accurately  and  speak 
correctly  as  matters  of  habit.  In  music,  one  learns 
when  one  sees  a  note  on  a  certain  part  of  the  scale 
to  strike  a  certain  key  on  the  piano,  or  to  produce  a 
certain  tone  with  the  voice.  Similarly  all  training 
is  a  matter  of  bringing  about  on  the  part  of  the  one 
trained  definite,  habitual  responses  for  definite  con- 
ditions and  situations. 

It  may  be  said  that  in  reaching  this  conclusion  we 
have  made  little  progress,  for  the  important  thing  is 
the  method  of  forming  these  habitual  responses.  But 
surely  it  is  worth  while  knowing  just  what  our  prob- 
lem is.  We  ca~>  never  solve  it  till  we  are  sure  of  its 
nature.  Once  we  are  agreed  that  the  essential  of 
moral  training  is  habitual  response,  more  or  less 
automatic,  we  shall  be  far  on  our  way  to  the  solution 
of  the  question  of  method.  We  have  indicated  above 
the  nature  of  this  solution.  When  our  knowledge  of 
the  child  is  more  complete,  when  we  can  trace  better 
the  order  of  development,  we  shall  be  able  to  pre- 
scribe pretty  definitely  the  method  of  moral  training. 

As  our  knowledge  now  stands,  we  can  outline  the 


178      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

essential  features  of  the  method,  as  indicated  in  the 
preceding  paragraphs.  It  is  also  worth  while  know- 
ing that  nothing  new  is  to  be  expected.  There  is 
nothing  new,  strange  or  mythical  that  a  commission 
or  committee  of  investigation  will  be  able  to  discover. 
The  fundamental  principles  of  moral  training  have 
been  known  as  long  as  we  have  known  anything. 
Neither  parents  nor  teachers  need  expect  the  discov- 
ery of  some  new  moral  antiseptic,  some  new  pink  pill 
that  can  be  administered  three  times  a  day  before 
meals,  and  that  will  transform  the  children  into  little 
angels  of  conduct,  thereby  giving  the  parents  relief 
from  care  and  anxiety.  Nothing  will  ever  take  the 
place  of  constant  work  and  watchfulness  on  the  part 
of  parents.  They  should  realise  that  nothing  can 
take  the  place  of  a  careful  study  of  the  principles 
involved,  a  full  comprehension  of  the  task,  and  daily 
and  hourly  watchfulness  and  care  in  carrying  out 
these  principles. 

The  emotions,  actions  and  character. — The  moral 
training  which  we  have  in  mind  includes  a  proper 
control  of  the  emotions,  the  development  of  endur- 
ance, bravery,  sympathy,  patience  and  self-control. 
All  these  characteristics  are  to  be  acquired  as  definite 
responses  to  definite  situations.  We  want  a  race  of 
men  for  whom  crime  will  be  impossible,  not  because 
of  a  moral  precept  that  has  been  learned,  but  because 
they  have  never  committed  crime  and  it  is  not  in 
accord  with  their  nature.  It  is  important  that  early 
training  make  the  individual  a  person  of  prompt  ac- 
tion as  soon  as  the  nature  of  the  situation  is  per- 
ceived. It  is  only  to  such  a  person  that  ideals  and 
forms  of  action  can  be  of  any  value.  Whatever  good 


HABIT   AND   MOBAL   TBAINING  179 

may  come  in  later  youth  from  the  principles  of  morai 
action  depends  entirely  on  the  previous  formation  of 
reflex  responses.  The  tendency  of  the  schools  has 
been  to  separate  knowing  and  doing,  while  the  only 
reason  that  we  need  to  know  anything  is  that  we  may 
do  something.  One  of  the  reasons  that  the  schools 
have  been  doing  so  poorly  in  moral  training  is  be- 
cause they  have  omitted  activities  from  the  course  of 
study.  Doubtless  the  failure  of  parents  is  in  part 
due  to  the  same  cause.  A  generation  ago  most  homes 
furnished  plenty  of  activities  to  serve  as  a  training 
school  for  the  children. 

Objections  considered. — Several  objections  might 
be  raised  against  such  a  training  as  we  have  briefly 
outlined.  It  might  be  said  that  it  would  lead  to  ac- 
tion without  principle,  without  motive,  that  the  child 
would  have  no  standards  or  forms  of  action.  To  this 
it  may  be  replied  that  it  is  right  action  and  not  a 
knowledge  of  principles  that  is  primarily  desired. 
We  want  men  for  whom  stealing,  lying,  cruelty, 
drunkenness,  unkindness  shall  be  impossible,  just  as 
we  want  bad  language  and  loose  thinking  to  be  im- 
possible for  them,  not  because  of  the  knowledge  of 
principles  of  grammar  and  logic,  but  because  they 
have  always  spoken  correctly  and  thought  clearly. 
The  drunkard  knows  that  it  is  wrong  to  get  drunk, 
the  thief  knows  that  it  is  wrong  to  steal,  the  liar 
knows  that  he  ought  not  to  lie.  The  ragged  tramp 
as  he  plods  his  way  along  the  highway  or  railroad 
may  have  lofty  ideals  and  visions  fair,  but  these 
ideals  and  visions  are  never  realised.  The  thing  pri- 
marily desired  is  such  a  correlation  of  response  and 
stimulus  as  will  make  crime  impossible,  a  condition 


180      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

that  will  make  the  ideal  an  effective  stimulus  to  ac- 
tion that  leads  toward  realisation.  The  only  way  to 
have  such  a  condition  is  to  make  right  and  appropri- 
ate action  habitual  to  men.  Many  mothers  tremble 
in  fear  lest  their  sons  go  into  saloons  and  become 
drunkards.  It  ought  to  be  as  easy  to  train  a  boy  not 
to  go  into  saloons  and  other  places  of  immorality  as 
it  is  for  the  hunter  to  train  his  bird  dog  not  to  chase 
rabbits.  Many  parents  could  learn  much  from  dog- 
trainers.  The  physiological  and  psychological  prin- 
ciples of  action  are  the  same  for  man  and  beast.  We 
do  not  mean  to  say  that  general  principles  and  rules 
of  action  are  not  important,  but  they  are  secondary, 
not  primary.  They  will  follow  naturally  upon  a 
course  of  training  that  makes  the  formation  of  habit 
the  basis.  As  the  child  grows  older  and  remembers  and 
reasons,  he  comes  to  generalise  on  his  actions  and 
their  results.  These  memories  and  generalisations 
enter  into  future  conditions  and  situations,  and  be- 
come part  of  the  motive,  part  of  the  stimulus  to 
action. 

It  might  also  be  objected  that  it  is  impossible  to 
train  an  individual  so  thoroughly  that  he  will  be  pre- 
pared for  all  the  varied  and  complex  situations  of 
later  life.  But  this  objection  will  not  hold.  If  pa- 
rents and  teachers  have  had  the  right  relation  to  the 
child  till  maturity  is  reached,  adjustments  of  re- 
sponse to  situation  will  be  formed  in  about  all  the 
normal  situations  of  life.  Moreover,  if  a  novel  situ- 
ation should  arise  in  later  life,  the  individual  is  then 
a  person  of  memory  and  reason,  as  was  pointed  out 
above;  the  situation  is  immediately  compared  with 
past  situations ;  it  becomes  a  stimulus  like  such-and- 


HABIT   AND   MOBAL   TRAINING  181 

such-a-one ;  the  appropriate  response  appears  imme- 
diately, provided  there  is  a  sufficient  habit-basis 
back  of  it. 

It  might  be  further  objected  that  it  is  not  desir- 
able to  reduce  conduct  to  the  realm  of  habit ;  that  we 
should  seek,  on  the  contrary,  to  preserve  plasticity. 
The  obvious  reply  is  that  in  the  matter  of  character 
the  less  plasticity,  the  better  for  society.  The  trouble 
with  us  now  is  that  we  are  too  plastic.  We  steal  one 
day  and  lie  the  next.  Where  there  is  plasticity  in 
moral  character  there  is  chaos  in  society.  What  we 
need  morally  is  fixity.  There  should  be  no  place  for 
plasticity  when  it  comes  to  matters  of  crime  and  sin. 
If  we  desire  that  good  action  should  become  natural 
to  men,  we  must  make  it  first  a  matter  of  habit,  a 
matter  of  reflex  response. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOB  FUBTHEB  STUDY. 

1.  Keep  a  record  of  your  moral  acts  for  a  week,  indicating 
those  that  you  think  right  and  those  you  consider  wrong.    Why  are 
they  right?      Why  wrong?    Why  did  you  do  the  right  acts?    Why 
the  wrong  acts? 

2.  Make  a  list  of  the  ten  best  men  that  you  know  and  a  list  of 
the  ten  worst  men  you  know.    What  is  the  basis  of  your  classifica- 
tion?   Do  the  bad  men  in  your  list  know  what  is  right  as  well  as 
do  the  good  men? 

3.  Enumerate  the  differences  between  the  typical  good  man  and 
the  typical  bad  man  of  your  above  lists.    How  many  of  these  dif- 
ferences are  there?    How  long  would  it  take  to  teach  the  moral 
principles  involved, — teach  them  as  mere  facts? 

4.  Make  a  list  of  the  moral  principles  that  you  think  an  ideal 
man  should  follow.     How  few  principles  will  they  reduce  to,  and 
how  long  would  it  take  to  teach  them  thoroughly  to  a  child? 

5.  Do  not  such  considerations  as  the  above  make  it  plain  that 
although  the  teaching  of  moral  principles  may  be  important,  it  is 
insignificant  in  comparison  with  the  importance  of  habituation? 

6.  Is  not  a  person  who  knows  what  good  conduct  is,  but  has  not 
been  trained  to  do  it  as  a  matter  of  habit,  very  much  like  a  person 
who  knows  how  to  add  and  subtract,  multiply  and  divide,  but  can 
n^t  solve  a  single  problem  without  making  mistakes  because  he  ha* 
not  habituated  the  processes? 


182      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

7.  Give  from  your  experience  illustrations  showing  the  impor- 
tance of  regularity  and  uniformity  in  forming  a  moral  habit. 

8.  Try  to  observe  the  training  of  children  in  their  homes ;  report 
the  procedure  of  parents  that  seem  to  understand  the  laws  of  habit 
formation  and  of  some  who  do  not 

9.  Give  from  experience  or  observation  instances  of  the  viola- 
tion by  teachers  of  the  laws  of  habit  formation  as  applied  to  morals. 

10.  Can  you  prove  that  mere  knowledge  of  the  right  is  not  suffi- 
cient basis  for  moral  action? 

11.  Do  you  think  we  need  to  worry  about  a  man's  ideals  if  he 
always  does  the  right  as  a  result  of  habituation? 

12.  Sometimes  the  children  of  preachers  go  wrong, — children 
that  have  been  preached  to  and  prayed  for  daily  for  twenty  years. 
If  you  know  of  any  such  case,  can  you  explain  it? 

13.  What  can  the  school  do  for  a  boy  fourteen  years  old,  normal 
mentally  and  physically,  but  who  has  had  no  moral  training,  and 
as  a  result  lies,  steals,  etc.?    If  you  have  ever  observed  such  a  case, 
describe  the  treatment  and  the  results. 

14.  Show  that  in  the  very  same  family  the  children  may  have 
the  same  knowledge  of  right  and  wrong,  but  that  some  are  very 
much  better  than  others  so  far  as  actions  are  concerned.     Why 
is  this? 

15.  A  few  years  ago  the  author  went  to  a  town  to  give  a  lecture 
to  a  body  of  teachers.     The  next  morning  he  found  the  people 
excited  and  threatening  mob  violence.     A  prominent  minister  of 
the  town  had  been  put  into  jail  because  of  a  serious  crime.    The 
man  knew  the  right,  for  he  had  been  teaching  it  to  his  flock.    Why 
did  he  not  do  the  right? 

16.  From  your  own  experience,  can  you  say  that  the  careful 
study  of  mathematics  or  science  will  have  anything  to  do  with  one's 
moral  actions? 

17.  When  you  have  the  opportunity  as  a  teacher,  try  to  find 
evidence  of  the  moral  effects  of  school  studies.    Try  to  discover 
the  moral  effects  of  the  study  of  literature  or  history.     Is  such 
effect  a  myth  or  a  fact?    Does  the  manner  of  teaching  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  it? 

18.  Has  any  teacher  ever  had  a  great  moral  Influence  upon  your 
life?    If  so,  describe  the  matter  in  detail,  giving  your  age  and  the 
exact  nature  of  the  moral  influence. 

19.  Carefully  consider  the  moral  influence  of  your  father  and 
mother  upon  your  life.    Work  it  out  definitely,  considering  methods 
and  results. 

20.  Have  you  ever  observed  in  your  own  life  or  the  lives  of 
others  any  definite  moral  influence  from  nature  study? 

21.  Is  it  possible  to  do  very  much  in  the  high  school  in  the  way 
of  moral  training  unless  it  is  based  on  admiration  for,  and  imita- 
tion  of,   a    strong,    forceful,    upright   teacher?     Without   such   a 
teacher,  would  the  formal  study  of  ethics  have  much  more  value 
than  a  microscopic  study  of  earthworms? 


HABIT   AND   MORAL   TRAINING  183 

22.  Discuss  the  relation  of  religious  belief  to  moral  practice. 

23.  How  can  parents  be  made  to  see  that  the  main  work  of 
moral  training  must  fall  upon  them?    And  how  is  it  possible  for 
the  modern  home  to  do  its  proper  work  in  this  regard? 

24.  Suppose  you  are  a  mathematics  teacher  in  a   city  high 
school.    What  can  you  do  in  the  way  of  moral  training?    Answer 
from  experience,  if  possible. 

25.  Have  you  ever  known  of  a  case  in  which  a  home  has  been 
revolutionised  morally  through  the  influence  of  the  school?    If  so, 
report  in  full. 

26.  Do  you  think  religion  necessary  in  moral  training?    Give 
the  evidence  to  support  the  position  that  you  take. 

27.  If  a  systematic  course  in  history  and  mathematics  is  neces- 
sary, why  is  not  a  systematic  course  in  ethics  necessary? 

28.  Work  out  fully  the  moral  influence  that  may  come  from  the 
group  games  of  youth. 

29.  Do  you  believe  that  the  personal  relations  of  teacher  and 
pupils  are  more  important  for  moral  training  than  formal  teaching 

of  ethics? 

30.  What  plan  of  building  up  a  moral  character  was  success- 
fully followed  by  Benjamin  Franklin?    Does  this  give  us  any  idea 
as  to  the  proper  kind  of  moral  training? 

REFERENCES. 

F.  Adler,  Moral  Instruction  of  Children,  1892 ;  G.  A.  Coe,  Educa- 
tion in  Religion  and  Morals,  1904;  G.  E.  Dawson,  The  Child  and 
His  Religion,  1909;  C.  DeGarmo,  Ethical  Training  in  the  Public 
Schools,  in  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science,  No. 
49:  Principles  of  Secondary  Education,  Vol.  iii,  Ethical  Training, 
1911 ;  J.  Dewey,  Moral  Principles  in  Education,  1909 ;  Teaching 
Ethics  in  the  High  School,  in  Educational  Review,  Vol.  vi,  p.  313 ; 
E.  O.  Sisson,  The  Essentials  of  Character,  1910;  E.  E.  Kellogg, 
Studies  in  Character  Building,  1905;  H.  T.  Mark.  The  Teacher  and 
the  Child;  M.  E.  Sadler,  Moral  Instruction  and  Training  in  School, 
1908;  E.  P.  St.  John,  Stories  and  Story-Telling  in  Moral  and  Re- 
ligious Education,  1910 ;  IT.  Spencer.  Education,  Intellectual,  Moral 
and  Physical,  1894,  still  worth  reading ;  D.  S.  Jordan,  Nature  Study 
and  Moral  Culture,  N.  E.  A.,  1896,  p.  130;  G.  Stanley  Hall,  The 
Moral  and  Religious  Training  of  Children  and  Adolescents,  in  Ped. 
Sem.,  Vol.  i.  p.  196;  Moral  Education  and  Will  Training,  in  Ped. 
Sem.,  Vol.  ii,  p.  72;  G.  E.  Dawson,  A  Study  in  Youthful  Degen- 
eracy, in  Ped.  Sem.,  Vol.  iv,  p.  221 ;  Mrs.  F.  Schoff,  The  Home  as 
the  Basis  of  Civic,  Social  and  Moral  Uplift,  In  Ped  Sem.,  Vol.  ivi, 
p.  473 ;  D.  Mussey,  The  Ideals  of  Ethical  Culture  for  Children,  in 
Ped.  Sem.,  Vol.  xvf,  p.  513;  G.  E.  Meyers,  Moral  Training  in  the 
School,  Jn  Fed  Sem.,  Vol.  xiii,  p.  409;  J.  F.  Rogers,  Physical  and 


184      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL.  PSYCHOLOGY 

Moral  Training,  in  Fed.  8em.,  Vol.  xvi,  p.  301;  L.  W.  Kline,  A 
Study  in  Juvenile  Ethics,  In  Fed.  Sem.,  Vol.  x,  p.  239 ;  L.  D.  Arnett, 
Origin  and  Development  of  Home  and  Love  of  Home,  In  Fed. 
Sem.,  Vol.  ix,  p.  324 ;  E.  J.  Swift,  Mind  in  the  Making,  1908,  Ch.  ii ; 
M.  V.  O'Sbea,  Social  Development  and  Education,  1909,  pp.  265- 
272;  H.  Miinsterberg,  Psychology  and  the  Teacher,  1909,  Chs.  xx 
and  xxiv ;  E.  A.  Kirkpatrick,  Fundamentals  of  Child  Study,  Ch.  xi ; 
E.  F.  Young,  Ethics  in  the  School,  1902 ;  E.  H.  Griggs,  Moral  Edu- 
cation, 1904;  E.  A.  Sharpe,  Foundation  Stones  of  Success,  1910,  in 
three  large  volumes,  containing  abundant  material  for  use  in  devel- 
oping moral  ideals. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
MEMORY. 

Meaning  of  memory. — Experiment  seems  to  re- 
veal two  kinds  of  images :  (1)  One  that  has  an  asso- 
ciative setting,  which  gives  a  feeling  of  familiarity 
with  it,  and  (2)  an  image  without  any  associative 
setting,  and  therefore  lacking  any  accompanying 
feeling  of  familiarity.  The  former  is  called  a  mem- 
ory image,  the  latter  an  image  of  imagination.  The 
term  memory  is  used  not  only  to  designate  this  par- 
ticular kind  of  image  as  distinct  from  the  image  of 
imagination,  but  is  also  used  in  the  same  sense  as  the 
term  retention.  When  we  speak  of  the  accuracy  or 
fidelity  of  memory  we  mean  that  the  image  or  idea 
represents  accurately  the  original  impression.  If 
our  memory  is  accurate,  our  idea  of  a  past  experi- 
ence agrees  accurately  with  that  experience.  On  the 
other  hand,  when  we  speak  of  a  good  memory  or  poor 
memory  we  have  reference  rather  to  the  retention; 
we  mean  that  retention  is  good  or  retention  is  poor. 
If  today  we  can  not  recall  any  of  the  experiences  of 
yesterday,  then  we  say  that  our  memory  is  poor, 
meaning  that  the  impressions  are  not  retained.  In 
general,  then,  we  shall  use  the  term  as  the  name  of  a 
kind  of  image  and  also  as  synonymous  with  the  fact 
of  retention  of  images  or  ideas.  In  the  former  sense 
it  is  the  name  of  a  definite  kind  of  complex  mental 
process ;  in  the  latter  it  is  the  name  of  a  physical  or 
psychophysical  fact.  For  what  is  retained  is  doubt- 

[186] 


186      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

less  some  modification  of  the  nervous  system,  which 
is  the  basis  of  the  brain  process  underlying  the  mem- 
ory image. 

Experimental  studies. — Experimental  studies  of 
memory  have  been  in  progress  for  twenty-five  years, 
and  the  main  facts  are  fairly  well  determined  and 
our  knowledge  of  the  various  aspects  and  conditions 
of  memory  is  tolerably  accurate  and  complete.  The 
divergent  conclusions  reached  in  certain  fields  are 
due,  in  the  main,  to  differences  in  methods  and  con- 
ditions of  experimentation.  The  main  problem  of 
experimental  work  has  been  the  determination  of  the 
relation  of  memory  to  age,  sex,  intelligence,  form  and 
manner  of  presenting  the  material,  ideational  type, 
rapidity  of  learning,  kind  of  material,  and  num- 
ber of  repetitions.  Other  problems  have  been  the 
question  of  improvement  of  the  memory,  the  condi- 
tions of  good  memory,  the  most  economical  methods 
of  learning,  and  the  function  of  the  teacher  in  the 
process  of  memorising.  We  shall  proceed  to  set 
forth  the  results  of  the  experimental  work  in  the 
various  fields  and  indicate  the  significance  of  these 
results  for  education. 

Relation  of  memory  to  age  and  sex. — It  is  the  pop- 
ular opinion  that  the  memory  of  childhood  is  supe- 
rior to  that  of  any  later  period  of  life,  but  this  seems 
not  to  be  the  case,  for  memory  improves  up  to  ado- 
lescence and  possibly  to  maturity.  The  immediate 
memory  span  for  digits  improves  from  five  in  the 
early  school  years  to  seven  in  the  later  school  years. 
Nor  does  memory  decline  later.  The  memory  of 
adults  remains  as  good  as  at  any  earlier  period  of 
life,  at  least  till  general  mental  decline  sets  in,  al- 


MEMOBY  187 

though  there  are  no  experimental  studies  of  the 
memory  of  old  age.  This  improvement  with  age, 
however,  turns  out  to  be  more  a  matter  of  immediate 
memory  than  of  permanent  retention.  Some  studies 
show  that  the  child  retains  about  as  much  relatively 
of  what  he  learns  as  does  the  adult,  but  he  can  not 
grasp  as  much,  can  not  learn  as  much,  and  this  may 
be  due  to  the  fact  that  experience,  increased  knowl- 
edge, enhances  the  ability  to  learn.  There  is  some 
evidence  that  memory,  or  at  least  some  aspects  of 
memory,  reaches  its  greatest  efficiency  at  about  the 
beginning  of  adolescence.  It  seems,  for  example, 
that  poetry  can  be  committed  to  memory  by  pupils 
of  this  age  better  than  at  any  other  time.  This  may 
be  connected  with  the  fact  of  universal  interest  in 
poetry  at  this  age,  which  prompts  so  many  boys  and 
girls  to  write  poetry  at  this  time. 

Most  experimental  studies  of  memory  that  have 
taken  account  of  differences  due  to  sex  have  found 
that  the  memory  of  girls  was  better  than  that  of  boys, 
although  it  is  somewhat  dependent  upon  the  nature 
of  the  material  memorised,  boys  sometimes  excelling 
in  rote  memory  for  names  of  concrete  things  and  for 
real  objects.  Girls  also  excel  in  logical  memory.  In 
tests  of  public  school  children  conducted  by  the  au- 
thor it  was  found  that  the  girls  excelled  in  logical 
memory  at  every  age  from  nine  to  fifteen  with  the 
single  exception  of  the  age  eleven,  when  the  boys  and 
girls  made  practically  the  same  record.  That  the 
memory  of  girls  should  be  rather  uniformly  better 
than  that  of  boys  is  a  curious  and  interesting  fact 
that  awaits  explanation. 


40 


35 


30 


Age  Memonj  Curve 


B 


25 


20 


a    9    10 


12      13      14      15       16      17      18 


The  Improvement  of  logical  memory  with  age  Is  shown  by  the  rise  of  the 
curves.  The  material  used  for  the  test  was  The  Marble  Btatue—  Whlpple'a 
Manual,  p.  347.  About  300  children  of  each  age  were  tested. 


MEMOBY  189 

Improvement  of  memory  by  practice. — Some  psy- 
chologists have  held  that  our  native  brute  retention, 
being  mechanical  in  nature  and  having  its  basis  in 
the  nervous  system,  can  not  therefore  be  altered  by 
anything  we  can  do.  It  may  be  true  that  the  ultimate 
physiological  basis  of  memory  can  not  be  improved 
by  practice,  but  practice  certainly  improves  the  im- 
mediate memory  both  for  nonsense  and  meaningful 
material.  But  here,  again,  it  may  be  more  a  matter 
of  increased  ability  to  learn  than  increased  ability 
to  retain.  However,  the  relative  retention  is  im- 
proved just  as  much  as  the  learning  capacity  is  in- 
creased. But  there  is  some  correlation  between 
learning  and  retaining,  and,  on  the  whole,  the  experi- 
mental work  rather  favors  the  idea  that  there  is  at 
least  a  slight  improvement  of  retention  with  prac- 
tice. In  some  extended  experiments  conducted  by  the 
author,  sub  jects  actually  retained  a  larger  percentage 
of  what  was  learned  after  practice  of  three  months. 
The  ability  to  learn  was  increased  in  this  time  about 
four  times.  "We  can  not,  of  course,  be  sure  that  in 
the  latter  case  the  matter  was  not  learned  better 
than  in  the  former.  It  amounts  to  the  same  thing  in 
the  end  whatever  be  the  actual  function  improved. 
The  simple  fact  is  that  by  practice  one  can  greatly 
improve  his  ability  to  get  and  hold  facts;  for  ex- 
ample, in  the  experiment  mentioned  above,  a  student 
by  daily  practice,  in  three  months  time,  was  able  to 
learn  in  fifteen  minutes  the  ideas  contained  in  about 
250  words  of  thought  material.  This  task  before 
practice  required  an  hour,  and  the  facts  were  re- 
tained better  in  the  fast  learning  than  in  the  slow, 
in  the  ratio  of  9  to  8. 


190      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

The  conditions  affecting  retention. — What  heredi- 
tary factors  cause  the  native  individual  differences 
in  memory  capacity  we  do  not  know,  but,  apart  from 
the  fact  of  individual  differences,  the  factors  influ- 
encing memory  are,  (1)  the  character  of  the  initial 
impression,  (2)  the  number  of  attentive  repetitions, 
and  (3)  the  nature  and  number  of  associations. 

The  first  impression. — The  nature  of  an  impression 
can  vary  in  many  ways,  but  its  clearness  and  affect- 
ive values  are  most  important  for  memory.  The  im- 
pression that  is  clear  and  vivid  and  that  has  a  great 
pleasure  or  pain  accompaniment  is  best  remembered. 
An  individual  is  most  deeply  impressed  by  those 
things  and  processes  that  touch  vital  interests,  that 
are  significant  for  the  life  of  the  individual.  The 
teacher  can  therefore  save  much  tima  usually  spent 
in  repetitions  by  making  the  conditions  of  first  pres- 
entation as  good  as  possible.  To  this  end,  the  child 
must  be  prepared  for  the  material  and  the  material 
for  the  child.  The  child  must  have  had  sufficient  ex- 
perience to  understand  and  appreciate  the  new  ideas ; 
moreover,  the  situation  should  usually  be  such  that 
he  really  demands  the  new  material, — needs  it  and 
is  eager  for  it.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  the  material, 
the  new  ideas,  must  be  naturally  and  logically  pre- 
sented with  due  regard  to  concreteness,  to  explana- 
tion and  elaboration.  If  not  understood,  the  new 
idea  can  make  little  impression,  and  will  therefore 
be  poorly  retained. 

The  number  of  repetitions. — The  value  of  repeti- 
tion for  memory  is  much  the  same  as  for  habituation. 
Liability  to  recall  doubtless  has  the  same  neural 
basis  as  has  the  relation  of  response  to  stimulus  in 


MEMORY  191 

habit.  Eepeating  an  experience,  thinking  our 
thought  over  again,  fixes  the  neural  conditions  on 
which  retention  and  recall  depend.  Experiments 
show  that,  within  limits,  the  greater  the  number  of 
attentive  repetitions,  the  better  the  retention.  If,  for 
example,  a  series  of  nonsense  syllables  is  learned 
on  one  day,  they  can  be  re-learned  on  the  next  day 
with  a  saving  of  one-third  of  the  time,  and  if  they  are 
repeated  twice  as  many  times  on  the  first  day  as  are 
necessary  for  a  perfect  reproduction,  then  there  is  a 
saving  of  two-thirds  of  the  learning  time  on  the  fol- 
lowing day.  But  the  repetitions  are  not  all  of  equal 
value  for  retention.  The  first  few  repetitions,  and 
particularly  the  first  one,  for  most  people  prove  of 
more  value  than  succeeding  repetitions.  The  degree  of 
attention  is  probably  the  most  important  factor  here ; 
if  a  high  degree  of  attention  can  be  maintained,  then 
the  repetitions  doubtless  will  have  a  higher  value  for 
retention,  at  least  till  fatigue  begins  to  interfere. 
Repetition  at  any  time  is  of  little  value  in  fixing  an 
impression,  unless  the  process  is  in  a  high  degree  of 
attention.  The  same  rule,  in  fact,  applies  to  repeated 
impressions  that  applies  to  the  first  impression,  and 
the  fact  that  after  the  first  impression  the  thing  is  no 
longer  new  and  has  lost  some  of  its  freshness  may 
account  for  the  decreasing  influence  of  the  later  pres- 
entations. And  it  is  this  loss  of  interest  after  the 
newness  has  worn  off  a  process  that  presents  the  chief 
problem  in  drill  work.  How  can  the  same  material 
be  presented  again  so  as  to  have  the  value  of  an 
initial  impression?  The  problem  is  easier  here  than 
it  is  in  the  case  of  habituation,  for  there  is  greater 
possibility  of  variation.  Ideas  can  be  re-presented 


192      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

under  all  sorts  of  new  conditions  and  combinations 
and  from  different  points  of  view.  They  can  enter 
into  a  generalisation,  a  deduction,  an  application. 
Such  repetition  becomes  quite  as  valuable  sometimes 
as  the  first  presentation. 

The  value  of  associations. — If  one  learns  a  series 
of  nonsense  syllables  and  a  verse  of  poetry,  the  latter 
is  much  better  retained,  because  of  the  fact  that  it 
has  meaning.  That  anything  has  meaning  is  a  mat- 
ter of  association,  of  past  experience.  The  nonsense 
syllables  are  associated  together  in  a  series,  but 
there  is  nothing  else  to  help  hold  them,  whereas  the 
words  in  the  verse  of  poetry  revive  abundant  asso- 
ciations apart  from  the  fact  that  one  word  follows 
another  in  the  lines.  These  old  associations  lay  hold 
of  and  re-enforce  the  words  in  memory.  A  verse  of 
poetry  first  presented  is  not  something  really  new 
in  the  same  sense  that  the  nonsense  syllables  are  new 
to  experience.  In  fact,  there  is  very  little,  if  any- 
thing, in  the  verse  of  poetry  that  is  new  to  experi- 
ence. If  there  is,  and  especially  if  there  is  very  much 
that  is  new,  then  it  approaches  the  nonsense  syllables 
in  difficulty  of  memorising.  The  richer  in  association 
an  idea  is,  the  better  it  is  retained  and  the  greater  is 
its  liability  of  recall.  The  proper  sort  of  repetition, 
of  review,  of  organisation,  serves  to  increase  and  to 
fix  these  associations.  These  factors  are  all  much 
affected  by  the  individual's  physical  condition.  In 
fact,  every  aspect  of  learning  and  memory  is  deli- 
cately dependent  upon  the  physical  state  of  the  sub- 
ject. The  effects  of  illness  and  fatigue  become  imme- 
diately evident  in  decreased  capacity  to  learn  and 
remember. 


MEMOBT  193 

Economical  learning. — (1)  Commiting  to  mem- 
ory. It  has  been  proved  by  experiment  that  the  most 
economical  way  to  commit  to  memory,  say  a  poem,  is 
to  read  the  poem  through  from  beginning  to  end,  as  a 
whole,  and  to  continue  to  re-read  it  through  in  the 
same  way  till  it  is  completely  learned.  It  is  not  eco- 
nomical to  divide  the  poem  up  into  little  units  and 
learn  these  separately.  And  this  is  true  whatever 
the  length  of  the  poem,  at  least  up  to  one  240  lines  in 
length, — the  longest  unit  yet  studied.  Two  of  the 
most  important  factors  in  making  this  procedure  the 
most  economical  are:  (a)  There  is  no  time  lost  in 
cementing  together  the  different  parts  and  unlearn- 
ing the  associations  of  the  last  line  of  a  unit  with  the 
first  line  of  that  unit,  as  fixed  by  repeating  the  part 
separately,  and  (b)  when  the  poem  is  read  through 
as  a  whole,  some  parts  of  the  whole  all  along  are 
learned  from  the  beginning  and  their  fixation  sets 
in  from  the  start.  In  the  case  of  a  long  poem  that 
must  be  learned  by  several  sittings  there  is  much 
sub-conscious  fixing  that  goes  on  between  times,  and 
if  the  poem  is  read  through,  this  affects  equally  the 
whole  poem.  This  principle  applies  only  to  verbatim 
learning,  and  we  are  not,  perhaps,  justified  in  making 
any  inferences  concerning  the  learning  of  ideas  apart 
from  verbal  learning.  This  point  must  be  settled  by 
direct  experimentation.  We  do  have  some  knowl- 
edge, however,  of  the  most  economical  distribution 
of  time  in  committing  to  memory  that  will  perhaps 
apply  to  the  learning  of  ideas.  If  we  have  to  learn 
something  too  long  to  commit  to  memory  at  one  sit- 
ting, say  60  lines  of  poetry,  the  best  procedure  is  to 
read  it  through  twice  at  one  sitting  and  repeat  daily 


194      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

till  the  matter  is  learned.  Of  course,  if  one  is  to 
learn  a  thing,  and  must  learn  it  as  soon  as  possible, 
he  can  not  consider  the  most  economical  distribu- 
tion of  time,  and  must  therefore  learn  it  even  though 
at  a  great  loss  of  time  as  compared  to  the  most  eco- 
nomical procedure.  Another  element  also  enters  in 
in  favor  of  the  short  unit.  In  a  short  unit  one  can 
learn  perfectly  a  short  stanza  in  a  little  time,  while 
if  the  whole  poem  is  read  through  it  is  some  time  be- 
fore any  of  it  can  be  repeated,  and  the  learner  seems 
to  be  making  no  progress,  and  a  person,  particularly 
a  child,  prefers  to  work  in  such  a  way  that  immediate 
results  can  be  seen,  and  telling  him  to  read  on  and  by 
and  by  he  will  know  the  poem  is  very  much  like  tell- 
ing him  to  work  on  and  by  and  by  he  may  be  Presi- 
dent. Eemote  ends  do  not  appeal  to  a  child.  A  few 
demonstrations  of  the  best  procedure  might,  how- 
ever, make  even  the  child  willing  to  work  by  the  most 
economical  method. 

(2)  The  best  memory  material.  Memory  for  ob- 
jects is  much  better  than  memory  for  words,  and  for 
most  people  memory  for  concrete  words  is  much  bet- 
ter than  for  abstract  words,  memory  for  meaningful 
words  is  better  than  for  nonsense  or  meaningless 
words.  The  most  effective  teaching,  therefore,  keeps 
near  to  the  concrete  reality.  We  should  study  the 
actual  object  when  possible.  When  this  is  not  pos- 
sible, then  the  best  possible  representation  of  the 
object.  Abundant  demonstration  and  illustration  are 
a  part  of  all  good  teaching.  And  it  is  always  a  sav- 
ing of  time  to  spend  it  helping  pupils  to  get  clear, 
definite  and  accurate  conceptions  of  reality.  By  do- 


MEMOBT  195 

ing  this  we  save  much  time  that  we  should  otherwise 
have  to  spend  in  repetitions. 

(3)  Cramming.  As  already  pointed  out,  there 
seems  to  be  at  least  a  slight  positive  correlation  be- 
tween quick  learning  and  good  retention.  Experi- 
ment settles,  at  any  rate,  that  the  contrary  opinion, 
namely,  that  the  slow  learner  retains  the  best,  is  not 
by  any  means  a  universal  truth.  The  quick  learner 
must  necessarily  possess  the  factors  that  make  for 
good  retention.  He  works  under  favorable  condi- 
tions of  attention  and  interest  that  are  also  factors 
of  good  retention.  It  must  be  that  the  impressions 
are  deeper  and  the  associations  better  for  the  quick 
learner.  This  favors  retention.  The  fast  learner 
gets  his  subject  matter  more  as  a  unity,  more  as  one 
piece, — he  sees  it  whole,  while  the  slow  learner  has 
forgotten  the  beginning  before  he  has  spelled  his 
way  to  the  end.  Such,  at  any  rate,  is  our  interpreta- 
tion of  the  experimental  fact  that  the  fast  learner  not 
only  retains  absolutely  more  than  does  the  slow 
learner,  but,  at  least  in  some  cases,  relatively  more 
than  does  the  slow  learner.  Experiment  is  confirmed 
by  the  general  observation  that  he  who  can  read  a 
book  at  the  highest  rate  of  speed  gets  most  out  of  the 
book.  This  need  not  mean  that  the  fast  reader  profits 
most  by  the  reading  of  the  book.  If  the  cause  of  the 
slow  reading  be  to  ponder  over  the  matter  and  think 
it  out  more  clearly  in  all  its  consequences,  then,  of 
course,  the  slow  reading  is  more  profitable ;  but  this 
is  another  matter. 

What,  then,  about  cramming?  Professor  Titch- 
ener  is  right  in  saying  that  there  are  two  forms  of 
cramming, — good  and  bad.  There  are  at  least  two 


196      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

forms  of  cramming  that  are  legitimate:  (1)  At  the 
end  of  a  course  of  study,  after  a  student  has  carefully 
worked  out  all  the  details  of  the  course  separately,  a 
rapid  survey  of  these  parts  as  making  a  whole  is  of 
great  benefit.  It  cements  the  parts  together  and 
gives  them  a  higher  meaning.  Such  a  review  is  val- 
uable both  as  a  form  of  repetition  and  in  giving 
really  new  associations.  The  facts  are  seen  in  per- 
spective, and  therefore  are  seen  in  their  proper  pro- 
portion and  importance.  But  in  saying  this  we  as- 
sume that  the  facts  have  been  carefully  learned.  The 
student  who  neglects  his  work  during  term-time  and 
hopes  to  make  up  by  a  few  hours  of  concentrated 
effort  at  the  end  can  not  hope  to  stand  with  the  per- 
son who  has  been  learning  and  organising  the  matter 
throughout  the  term,  and  especially  is  this  true  if 
the  latter  also  makes  use  of  a  final  organisation  or 
review.  A  careful  re-survey  of  a  course  at  its  end 
is  often  of  as  much  worth  as  any  other  equal  amount 
of  time  spent  on  the  course.  (2)  Cramming  is  also 
a  legitimate  procedure  in  the  organisation  of  a  mass 
of  subject  matter  for  a  particular  occasion  after 
which  there  will  be  no  need  for  its  use.  One  such 
occasion  that  a  student  meets  is  the  passing  of  an 
examination, — such  as  is  too  often  given, — an  exami- 
nation that  calls  for  a  lot  of  isolated,  unrelated,  un- 
important details.  To  meet  such  an  occasion,  a  stu- 
dent is  justified  in  resorting  to  the  cramming  process. 
But  such  an  examination  can  have  no  justification; 
it  has  no  proper  place  in  a  scheme  of  education. 

(4)  Ideational  types.  There  seems  some  evidence 
that  an  individual  learns  best  material  suited  to  his 
type  of  ideation.  An  auditorily  minded  person 


MEMORY  197 

learns  best  a  material  that  appeals  to  auditory  imag- 
ery ;  the  visually  minded  person,  a  material  that  ap- 
peals to  visual  imagery.  But  the  manner  of  presen- 
tation, i.  e.}  whether  through  eye  or  ear,  depends 
much  on  acquired  habit  and  interest.  For  in  the  case 
of  meaningful  material,  in  whatever  form  it  is  pre- 
sented, it  is  worked  over,  interpreted,  according  to 
one's  mental  constitution  and  habits.  But  there  are 
individual  differences  and  preferences  for  certain 
forms  of  presentation,  and  also  differences  due  to 
age.  In  the  earlier  years  of  school  life  auditory 
presentation  is  better,  but  by  the  age  of  nine  the 
visual  method  begins  to  prove  the  better  and  im- 
proves much  more  than  does  the  auditory.  Some 
investigators  have  found  that  if  the  material  to  be 
learned  is  presented  through  more  than  one  sense,  it 
is  better  learned  and  retained.  If  the  matter  is  read 
to  the  children,  and  they  are  also  allowed  to  see  it, 
and  in  addition  also  to  write  or  in  some  way  to  repro- 
duce it,  as  by  speaking  it  aloud  or  silently,  then  it 
is  better  learned.  Such  methods  of  presentation 
probably  have  the  same  value  as  repetition,  for  that 
is  about  what  they  amount  to.  They  not  only  make 
a  better  initial  impression,  but  may  make  better  asso- 
ciations as  well. 

Transfer  of  memory  training. — After  one  has  im- 
proved his  capacity  to  get  and  retain  ideas  in  a  cer- 
tain field,  does  this  increase  his  capacity  in  other 
fields!  The  result  of  the  most  careful  experiments 
up  to  the  present  time  indicate  that  the  result  of 
such  practice  and  training  is  rather  narrow  and  spe- 
cific. If,  for  example,  a  person  is  practiced  in  learn- 
ing and  retaining  numbers,  this  does  not  help  much 


198      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

in  learning  letters  and  figures.  Or,  if  one  is  pra"- 
ticed  in  learning  meaningful  material,  it  does  not 
help  much  in  learning  nonsense  material.  There  are 
certain  habits  that  function  in  learning  and  memory. 
These  habits  are  specific,  but  they  may  be  considered 
general  in  so  far  as  the  situations  and  procedures 
in  learning  are  measurably  similar.  It  would 
be,  perhaps,  nearer  the  truth  to  say  that  all  habits 
are  specific,  but  that  some  of  the  situations  in  which 
a  habit  is  applicable  are  universal.  There  are  cer- 
tain physical  conditions  of  attending  and  learning, 
more  or  less  under  the  subject's  control,  that  are 
much  the  same  in  all  learning,  and  therefore  drill  in 
one  form  gives  efficiency  in  all  the  others.  In  the 
learning  of  nonsense  material,  and  to  some  extent 
in  all  rote  memory,  where  the  main  factor  is  vivid- 
ness of  impression,  getting  these  favorable  condi- 
tions for  impression  is  about  all  that  contributes  to 
improvement.  But  in  the  case  of  logical  material 
there  are  many  other  factors.  There  are  habits  of 
procedure  to  be  acquired,  habits  of  organising  and 
fixing  the  ideas,  and,  in  addition,  there  is  an  increase 
of  familiarity  with  the  subject  matter  that  improves 
the  learning  and  memory  capacity  in  that  particular 
kind  of  subject  matter.  The  latter  would  not  be  of 
service  in  unrelated  matter,  but  the  habits  of  pro- 
cedure in  learning  logical  matter  doubtless  have 
more  or  less  general  application,  so  that  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  learning  how  to  learn.  But  it  is  not 
a  matter  of  transfer  of  training,  nor  is  it  a  matter 
of  general  habits,  but  is  merely  a  case  of  acquiring 
habits  whose  conditions  and  situations  occur  in  all 
learning. 


MEMORY  199 

The  relation  of  memory  to  intelligence. — The  rela- 
tion of  memory  to  learning  capacity  has  been  pointed 
out.  What  is  the  relation  of  memory  to  general  in- 
telligence? What  is  the  relation  of  memory  to  class 
standing?  Experimental  results  are  somewhat  di- 
vergent, but  it  seems  clear  that  when  logical  memory 
tests  are  carefully  made,  and  when  class  standing  is 
determined  by  any  adequate  method,  a  fairly  high 
degree  of  correlation  between  students'  standing  as 
determined  by  a  memory  test  and  their  class  stand- 
ing will  be  found.  A  very  close  relation  could  not  be 
expected,  because  there  are  many  factors  that  deter- 
mine class  standing,  memory  being  only  one  of  these 
factors.  Even  ability  to  learn  is  not  a  sufficient  index 
of  class  standing,  for  ability  to  learn  must  be  coupled 
with  desire  and  willingness  to  learn.  With  other 
things  equal,  an  efficient  memory  gives  a  student  a 
great  advantage.  Habits  of  learning  and  habits  of 
work  are  very  important  elements  in  determining 
scholarship.  It  often  happens  that  a  person  who  is 
quick  to  learn  and  has  a  reliable  memory  is  a  poor 
student,  because,  knowing  that  he  learns  readily,  he 
leaves  his  learning  to  the  last  moment  and  allows  no 
time  for  repetition,  for  more  thorough  organisation, 
so  that  the  person  with  inferior  ability,  but  better 
habits  of  work,  will  excel  in  class  work.  However, 
the  very  best  students  are  those  who  are  gifted  by 
nature  in  ability  to  learn  and  remember,  and  who,  in 
addition,  have  good  habits  of  work.  In  a  large  class 
careful  experiment  will  always  prove  this  true. 

The  function  of  the  teacher  in  memory  work. — 
Here,  as  in  the  case  of  habit  formation,  one  of  the 
main  functions  of  the  teacher  is  to  correct  mistakes 


200      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 


31 
30 


27 


— • 


IV  V  VI  VII 

The  diagram  shows  the  relation  of  logical  memory  Id  Intelligence.  The 
number  of  school  grade  IB  represented  on  the  horizontal  axis,  and  the  num- 
ber of  Ideas  retained  on  the  vertical  axis.  When  children  of  the  same  age 
are  found  distributed  through  several  grades,  those  in  the  higher  grades 
have  the  better  memory. 


MEMOBY  201 

in  the  early  stage  of  memorisation.  When  a  student 
sets  to  work  to  learn  the  ideas  in  a  paragraph  or  page 
of  a  book,  the  first  reading  may  give  him  some  wrong 
or  incorrect  ideas,  and  it  often  happens  that  further 
reading  does  not  disclose  these  mistakes  to  the 
learner,  for  on  successive  readings  the  thing  is  likely 
to  come  with  the  same  meaning  as  at  first,  so  that  the 
learner  is  powerless  to  correct  his  mistake.  Further 
reading  is  not  only  time  lost,  so  far  as  getting  the 
correct  interpretation  is  concerned,  but  serves  to  fix 
the  wrong  ideas.  The  teacher's  function  here  is  to 
use  every  possible  precaution  to  see  that  the  correct 
idea  is  got  at  the  beginning,  at  the  initial  reading, 
before  repetition  has  firmly  fixed  the  wrong  idea.  A 
second  function  of  the  teacher  is  to  determine  the 
learning  capacity  and  memory  efficiency  of  the  dif- 
ferent pupils  and  direct  their  work  in  accordance 
with  these  facts.  The  child  of  quick  learning  ca- 
pacity must  be  taught  to  take  care  not  to  omit  proper 
repetition  and  organisation,  while  the  slow  learner 
must  be  taught  to  work  at  the  highest  point  of  con- 
centration and  told  that  on  no  account  can  he  afford 
to  neglect  the  repeated  attacks.  He  should  be  taught 
to  take  advantage  of  several  attacks  on  a  task  at 
different  times,  and  not  to  depend  on  long  continued, 
ineffectual  repetitions  that  do  not  have  proper  con- 
ditions of  attention  and  interest.  If  the  pupils  of 
different  learning  capacity  must  work  together,  then 
the  bright  ones  should  be  given  enough  more  work 
in  the  same  subject  or  in  other  subjects  so  that  the 
two  will  be  on  something  near  an  equality.  It  seems 
hardly  possible  to  make  a  greater  mistake  in  the 
school  room  than  to  proceed  on  the  assumption  of 


202      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

equal  capacity  in  all  the  pupils.  It  seems  probable 
that  every  individual  has  a  definite  coefficient  of 
learning  capacity  that  is  fairly  constant.  A  teacher 
should  know,  and  know  with  some  degree  of  exact- 
ness, what  this  coefficient  is  in  the  various  pupils. 
There  is  just  as  much  need  for  the  teacher  to  know 
the  learning  coefficient  of  his  pupils  as  there  is  for 
the  engineer  to  know  the  efficiency  of  his  engines  and 
machines.  The  knowledge  is  necessary  for  wise  ac- 
tion in  each  case.  A  knowledge  of  the  individual's 
ideational  type  and  other  individual  peculiarities  will 
also  be  of  help  to  the  teacher  in  determining  what 
forms  of  material  and  presentation  to  use  and  in  un- 
derstanding the  different  results  of  instruction  on  the 
different  pupils.  Not  only  do  the  same  impressions 
receive  different  interpretations  by  different  pupils, 
but  they  bring  about  different  reactions,  receive  dif- 
ferent evaluations  and  take  different  places  in  the 
permanent,  organised  knowledge  of  the  individuals. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOB  FURTHER  STUDY. 

(The  various  forms  of  tests  can  be  given  to  the  class  as  a  whole 
by  the  instructor.) 

1.  Make  a  brief  study  of  the  relation  of  memory  to  age  as  fol- 
lows :   Make  out  lists  of  concrete  and  abstract  words,  one  complete 
set  of  each.     (See  p.  204.)     Have  four,  five,  six,  seven,  eight,  nine 
and  ten  words  in  the  respective  lists  of  concrete  words  and  the 
same  for  the  abstract  words.     Give  the  test  by  pronouncing  the 
words  and  having  each  list  reproduced  in  writing  immediately  after 
it  is  given.     Use  only  words  whose  meaning  is  known  to  those 
tested.     Do  you  find  an  improvement  with  age  as  stated  in  the 
chapter? 

2.  Test  the  logical  memory  of  children  of  different  ages  by  using 
a  short  simple  story.    Give  the  test  by  reading  the  story  to  the 
children  and  requiring  them  to  write  down  immediately  the  ideas 
remembered.    The  story  can  be  divided  up  into  ideas  or  units,  and 
the  reproduction  of  the  idea  of  each  unit,  not  the  exact  words,  is 
what  is  required.     Do  your  results  correspond  to  those  obtained 
from  the  first  test? 


MEMORY  203 

3.  Compare  your  own  memory  for  various  kinds  of  material 
with  the  memory  of  some  one  else  in  the  class. 

4.  Compare  the  time  that  is  required  for  you  to  learn  15  non- 
sense syllables  with  the  time  required  to  learn  15  English  words 
whose  meaning  is  known  to  you.     Have  another  person  prepare 
the  words  and  syllables.    The  words  should  be  of  one  syllable  and 
the  nonsense  syllables  should  have  three  letters  each, — a  consonant, 
then  a  vowel,  then  a  consonant.     Learn  each  list  by  reading  it 
through  yourself  from  beginning  to  end.     Count  the  number  of 
readings  required  for  learning,  and  consider  the  list  learned  when 
you  can  say  it  through  without  looking  at  the  words,  at  the  same 
rate  that  you  use  for  learning  them.     Which  list  requires  the 
longer  time? 

5.  If  you  have  ever  tried  to  commit  to  memory  a  Latin  poem, 
you  probably  found  it  very  difficult.    Why? 

6.  Report  from  your  experience  or  observation  a  case  of  poor 
teaching, — poor  for  the  reason  that  the  pupils  did  not  understand 
the  meaning  of  the  matter  presented. 

7.  Give  instances  of  undue  amount  of  repetition  required  be- 
cause of  poor  initial  impressions. 

8.  Have  you  ever  used  any  kind  of  memory  device?    If  so,  what 
was  it  and  what  was  its  value? 

9.  Compare  the  method  of  learning  by  wholes  with  the  method 
of  learning  by  parts,  by  finding  a  simple  poem  and  learning  about 
30  lines  by  each  method.     You  will  perhaps  need  to  perform  the 
experiment  several  times  and  take  the  average  for  each  method. 
If  the  material  used  is  very  even  and  your  condition  is  maintained 
uniform,  a  few  tests  will  be  sufficient.    The  matter  may  be  tested 
out  on  the  class  as  a  whole  by  the  instructor.    The  class  can  be 
divided  into  two  equal  parts  by  lot  or  on  the  basis  of  tests.    One 
half  can  then  use  the  one  method  and  the  other  half  the  other 
method,  and  the  results  can  be  compared.    If  this  group  method  is 
used,  great  care  must  be  used  to  have  the  work  done  under  uniform 
conditions, — the  same  time  of  day,  the  same  rate  of  reading,  the 
same  criterion  of  perfect  learning,  etc. 

10.  You  can  test  the  value  of  attentive  repetitions  by  learning 
a  few  stanzas  under  £  icd  conditions  of  attention  with  the  time 
required  for  learning  a  similar  number  when  good  attention  is 
impossible, — say,  in  a  room  where  several  people  are  talking. 

11.  An  experiment  similar  to  the  above  can  be  performed  on  the 
class  as  a  whole  by  the  instructor  as  follows :  The  members  of  the 
class  can  spend  five  minutes  on  a  paragraph  in  this  book  that  has 
not  been  read,  then  five  minutes  on  another  paragraph  of  equal 
length.     While  one  paragraph  is  being  read,  distractions  may  be 
furnished  by  a  metronome  and  an  electric  bell.     The  experiment 
should  be  repeated  a  few  times  and  the  averages  taken  for  each 
of  the  two  procedures. 

12.  Some  time  is  required  for  proving  that  memory  improves 
with  practice  for  the  material  and  method  used,  but  an  hour  of 


204      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

hard  practice  a  day  for  a  week  ought  to  show  Improvement  The 
question  of  the  transfer  of  the  training  can  be  determined  by  test- 
ing the  memory  for  various  forms  of  material  and  method  before 
and  after  the  memory  training.  These  tests  should  be  with  con- 
crete and  abstract  words,  digits,  objects,  pictures,  and  different 
forms  of  material  in  connected  thought  Do  not  expect  your  experi- 
ment to  be  worth  anything  unless  it  is  done  with  the  greatest  of 
care. 

13.  The  above  experiment  could  be  performed  by  the  class  as  a 
whole  in  the  following  way :    The  initial  and  final  tests  could  be 
given  by  the  instructor  to  the  whole  class ;  the  practice  for  a  week 
could  be  done  by  the  individuals  in  their  rooms  according  to  a 
careful  method  prescribed  by  the  instructor. 

14.  The  relation  of  memory  to  intelligence  can  be  determined 
by  the  instructor  as  follows :   The  standing  of  the  members  of  the 
class  in  the  various  memory  tests  can  be  correlated  with  their 
standing  in  the  subject  of  Educational  Psychology.    This  correla- 
tion may  be  determined  by  the  Pearson  formula,  or  it  may  be 
roughly  determined  by  ranking  the  class  in  the  tests,  from  the  best 
to  poorest,  then  ranking  them   for  the  standing  in  psychology. 
Divide  the  two  lists  in  the  middle.    If  more  than  half  of  the  better 
half  in  one  list  is  found  in  the  better  half  of  the  other  list,  then 
there  is  a  correlation  between  memory  and  intelligence  as  your 
test  indicates.     Do  not  attach  much  importance  to  your  results 
unless  the  tests  are  carefully  given  and  the  rank  in  the  class  is 
carefully  determined. 

15.  Try  to  determine  experimentally  whether  you  can  learn  bet- 
ter by  reading  yourself  or  hearing  the  matter  read. 

WORDS   FOR   ROTE   MEMORY   TEST. 
CONCRETE.  ABSTRACT. 

1  1 
street  ink,  lamp.                                time,  game,  scheme. 

2  2 

spoon,  horse,  chair,  stone.  grade,  fact,  work,  thing. 

3  3 

ground,  clock,  boy,  chalk,  book.        pluck,  love,  blame,  fear,  proof. 

4  4 

desk,   milk,   hand,   card,   floor,        space,  force,  pride,  fright  Joy. 
cat  size. 

5  5 

ball,  cup,  glass,  hat,  fork,  pole,        length,  light  style,  rate,  cause, 
cloud.  youth,  hate. 

6  6 

coat    girl,    house,    salt    glove,        law,    thought    plot,   glee,   life, 
watch,  box,  mat  call,  price,  strength. 


MEMORY  205 

The  words  should  be  pronounced  slowly  and  distinctly  and  at 
an  even  rate,  one  group  at  a  time.  In  scoring  the  results,  a  word 
in  its  proper  place  can  be  counted  as  "two,"  a  word  out  of  its 
proper  place  as  "one."  Inserted  words  not  pronounced  should  not 
be  counted. 

REFERENCES. 

FOR  SYSTEMATIC  TREATMENT: 

E.  B.  Titchener,  A  Textbook  of  Psycnology,  1910,  p.  396 ;  G.  M. 
Whipple,  Manual  of  Mental  and  Physical  Tests,  1910,  pp.  356  and 
394;  W.  James,  Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  i,  p.  643;  Talks  to 
Teachers,  p.  116;  C.  H.  Judd,  Psychology,  1907,  p.  231 ;  J.  R.  Angell, 
Psychology,  1908,  p.  222 ;  R.  M.  Yerkes,  Introduction  to  Psychology, 
1911,  pp.  189  and  300 ;  H.  Miinsterberg,  Psychology  and  the  Teacher, 
1909,  p.  137 ;  H.  J.  Watt,  The  Economy  and  Training  of  Memory, 
1909. 

ORIGINAL  STUDIES : 

T.  L.  Bolton,  The  Growth  of  Memory  in  School  Children,  in 
American  Journal  of  Psychology,  Vol.  iv,  p.  362 ;  M.  W.  Calkins, 
A  Study  of  Immediate  and  Delayed  Recall  of  the  Concrete  and  the 
Verbal,  in  Psychological  Review,  Vol.  v,  p.  451 ;  E.  A.  McC.  Gamble, 
A  Study  in  Memorizing  Various  Materials  by  the  Reconstruction 
Method,  Psych.  Review,  Monograph  Supplement,  Vol.  x,  No.  43, 
1909 ;  C.  J.  Hawkins,  Experiments  on  Memory  Types,  in  Psych. 
Review,  Vol.  iv,  p.  289 ;  E.  A.  Kirkpatrick,  An  Experimental  Study 
of  Memory,  in  Psych.  Review,  Vol.  i,  p.  602 ;  F.  Smedley,  Report  of 
Department  of  Child-Study  and  Pedagogic  Investigation,  Chicago 
Public  Schools,  No.  3,  1900-1901;  W.  G.  Smith,  The  Relation  of 
Attention  to  Memory,  in  Mind,  n.  s.,  No.  4,  p.  47;  The  Place  of 
Repetition  in  Memory,  In  Psych.  Review,  Vol.  ill,  p.  21 ;  E.  N.  Hen- 
derson, A  Study  of  Memory  for  Connected  Trains  of  Thought, 
Psych.  Rev.,  Mon.  Sup..  Vol.  v,  1903.  No.  23;  J.  C.  Shaw,  A  Test 
of  Memory  in  School  Children,  in  Pedagogical  Seminary,  Vol.  iv, 
p.  61 ;  W.  H.  Pyle.  The  Function  of  the  Teacher  in  Memory  Work, 
in  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  Vol.  i,  p.  474;  The  Most 
Economical  Unit  for  Committing  to  Memory,  in  Journal  of  Edu- 
cational Psychology,  Vol.  II,  p.  133 ;  Retention  as  Related  to  Repe- 
tition, in  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology.  Vol.  ii,  p.  311 ;  H. 
Mfinsterberg  and  J.  Bigham,  Memory,  in  Psych.  Rev.,  Vol.  i,  p.  34 ; 
.7.  Bigham.  Memory,  Psych.  Rev.,  Vol.  i,  p.  453;  C.  Guillet,  Reten- 
tion in  Child  and  Adult,  in  American  Journal  of  Psychology,  Vol. 
xx,  p.  318. 


CHAPTEB  XIV. 
ATTENTION. 

Attention  is  a  term  applied  to  the  arrangement  of 
the  contents  of  consciousness,  at  a  given  time,  on  the 
basis  of  sensory  clearness.  At  any  given  time  some 
conscious  processes  are  clear,  others  relatively  ob- 
scure. We  commonly  say  that  the  clear  processes 
are  attended  to  and  that  the  unclear  are  not  attended 
to.  This  popular  way  of  speaking  of  the  facts  is 
somewhat  unfortunate,  for  it  implies  that  there  are 
mental  processes  and,  in  addition,  something  else 
that  can  take  up  an  attitude  toward  these  processes ; 
that  the  conscious  processes  go  filing  by  some  sort 
of  arbiter  that  seizes  upon  some  of  them  and  lets 
the  others  go.  But  such  crude  notions  as  this  can  not 
be  held  by  a  scientific  psychology  that  knows  only  the 
mental  processes  themselves.  Mental  processes  are 
the  sum-total  of  consciousness.  It  would  be  more 
accurate  to  say  that  mental  processes  are  experienced 
in  a  state  of  attention  when  they  are  clear.  By  'at- 
tending to'  we  should  mean  only  that  the  process  in 
question  is  relatively  clear  in  comparison  with  other 
simultaneous  mental  processes.  The  clear,  then,  is 
the  'attended  to'  and  the  unclear  is  the  'not  at- 
tended to.' 

The  neurological  point  of  view. — There  is  a  point  of 
view,  however,  that  gives  some  justification  for 
using  the  term  in  something  like  its  old  meaning, — 
the  point  of  view  of  neurology  or  physiology.  If 

[206] 


ATTENTION  207 

instead  of  a  mental  arbiter  that  is  free  to  choose  or 
select  we  substitute  our  physical  bodies,  with  their 
nervous  systems,  there  is  some  sense  in  saying  that 
we  attend  to  this  or  that.  What  we  mean  is  that  the 
nervous  activity,  which  is  the  condition  of  our  mental 
life,  determines  what  mental  processes  shall  be  clear 
and  what  unclear.  Our  nervous  system  selects, 
chooses.  This  system  is  constantly  stimulated  by  the 
environment,  and  there  is  a  constant,  ceaseless 
change  in  the  distribution  of  nervous  activity.  The 
shift  and  change  of  clearness  in  mental  processes 
parallels,  and  is  conditioned  by,  this  shift  and  change 
of  nervous  activity.  In  a  sense,  then,  the  nervous 
system  selects  and  chooses,  but  this  selection  is 
entirely  mechanical.  The  arrangement  and  distribu- 
tion of  nervous  activities  at  any  moment  is  dependent 
upon  past  activities,  ultimately  upon  heredity  and 
environment. 

It  is  important  that  teachers  understand  this 
clearly,  for  such  a  point  of  view  brings  the  problem 
of  attention  out  of  the  clouds  of  an  impossible  meta- 
physics and  puts  it  on  a  basis  of  fact.  If  the  mind  is 
an  entity  that  attends  or  may  not  attend,  as  it  pleases, 
then  there  can  be  no  science  of  attention,  there  can 
be  no  training  or  direction  of  attention.  But  if  atten- 
tion is  a  matter  of  sensory  clearness  depending  upon 
the  changing  equilibrium  of  nervous  activity,  upon 
nervous  habits,  inherited  and  acquired,  there  can  be 
a  science  of  attention,  and  great  possibilities  of  train- 
ing and  direction  appear.  This  control  and  direction 
of  the  attention  of  the  pupils  depends  upon  our  ma- 
nipulation of  the  pupils'  environment,  just  as  every 
aspect  of  training  depends  upon  such  manipulation. 


208      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

We  can,  however,  now,  since  we  know  what  we 
mean,  continue  to  use  the  language  of  every  day  life 
and  say  that  we  attend  to  this  or  that.  A  concrete 
illustration  will  make  the  matter  plain.  Just  now 
my  consciousness  was  chiefly  clock-tick,  i.  e.,  the  men- 
tal process,  which  I  may  call  "clock-tick,"  was  clear, 
stood  out  distinct  from  other  processes, — these  other 
processes  being  pressure  sensations  from  my  clothes, 
sounds  from  a  dripping  faucet,  a  sort  of  general 
warmth  and  discomfort,  and  vague  visual  percep- 
tions of  various  objects  in  the  room.  Now,  I  say  that 
I  was  attending  to  the  clock-tick  and  not  attending 
to  the  other  processes,  when  all  that  I  can  mean  is 
that  the  clock-tick  was  clearer  than  the  other  proc- 
esses. A  moment  later  the  whole  pattern  of  con- 
sciousness was  changed.  The  clock-tick  became  ob- 
scure, went  almost  below  the  conscious  level,  while 
noises  from  the  stairway  became  clear.  And  in  like 
manner  the  contents  of  consciousness  are  continually 
shifting.  A  process  now  clear  presently  is  obscure, 
while  some  other  process  rises  to  maximal  clearness, 
and  the  processes  of  a  succeeding  moment  may  be 
entirely  different  and  with  their  own  distribution  of 
clearness  values. 

The  two  phases  of  attention,  active  and  passive. — 
There  are  two  phases  in  the  development  of  atten- 
tion. Some  processes  easily  and  naturally  become 
clear  and  run  their  course  in  the  focus  of  attention. 
Such  attention  is  termed  passive.  It  is  occasioned 
by  stimuli  of  certain  qualities  and  by  intensive,  sud- 
den, repeated,  novel  and  congruous  stimuli.  When 
two  such  stimuli  simultaneously  act  upon  the  organ- 
ism neither  one  occasions  a  mental  process  that  holds 


ATTENTION  209 

its  own  in  the  focus  of  attention  without  interrup- 
tion from  the  other.  Attention  nnder  such  circum- 
stances is  termed  active,  secondary  or  voluntary.  It 
is  only  a  temporary  stage,  for  repetition  of  the  situa- 
tion soon  brings  about  the  passive  stage.  The  basis 
of  the  passive  attention  is  habit  in  the  nervous  sys- 
tem, a  definite  order  of  nervous  change  that  results 
from  repeated  experience.  Professor  Titchener  has 
made  very  clear  the  nature  of  these  two  forms  of 
attention  and  we  can  not  do  better  than  to  quote  the 
passage:  "Secondary  [active]  attention  is  a  neces- 
sary consequence  of  a  complicated  nervous  system. 
Let  us  take  an  imaginary  case :  the  case  of  an  animal 
endowed  with  two  sense  organs,  an  eye  and  an  ear. 
Suppose  that  such  an  animal  is  exposed,  at  the  same 
moment,  to  two  different  stimuli,  a  bright  light  in 
front  of  it  and  a  loud  sound  at  its  side.  It  can  not 
afford  to  neglect  either.  Hence  it  will  attend,  first, 
to  the  stimulus  which  has  the  greater  attractive 
force;  but,  then,  having  attended  to  that,  it  will  at 
once  turn  its  attention  to  the  other :  and  so  there  will 
be  a  seesaw  of  light  and  sound  at  the  focus  of  con- 
sciousness, a  quick  succession  of  primary  attention. 
*  *  *  Now  take  a  case  that  lies  nearer  home.  Sup- 
pose that  you  are  in  your  room  preparing  for  tomor- 
row's examination,  and  that  you  hear  an  alarm  of 
fire  in  a  neighboring  street.  Both  ideas,  the  idea  of 
examination  and  the  idea  of  fire,  are  imperative; 
there  is  a  conflict.  The  cortex  is  set  in  one  part  for 
work,  and  this  setting  is  reinforced  by  a  large  num- 
ber of  associated  excitations, — the  nervous  processes 
corresponding  to  ideas  of  the  examination  mark,  the 
consequences  of  failure,  and  so  on*  The  cortex  is  set 


210      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

in  another  part  for  going  to  the  fire,  and  this  setting 
is  similarly  reinforced  by  the  processes  correspond- 
ing to  the  ideas  of  a  run  in  the  fresh  air,  an  exciting 
scene,  a  possible  rescue,  and  so  on.  The  struggle 
may  last  for  some  time,  and  its  effects  may  persist  for 
a  while  after  you  have  made  your  choice.  So  long  as 
there  is  any  trace  of  it,  your  attention  is  secondary 
or 'active' attention.  *  *  *  The  making  of  a  choice 
means,  of  course,  that  the  stronger  of  the  two  con- 
flicting forces,  the  rival  excitatory  processes,  has  won 
the  day,  and  the  traces  of  the  struggle  that  persist 
after  the  choice  has  been  made  mean  that  the  victory 
has  not  been  absolutely  complete.  If  experiences  of 
the  sort  are  often  repeated,  so  that  a  habit  is  set  up, — 
a  habit  of  work  or  a  habit  of  play, — then  the  struggle 
is  brief,  and  secondary  attention  is  quickly  replaced 
by  primary.  *  *  *  This  nervous  system  of  ours, 
which  is  the  scene  of  the  conflict  in  secondary  atten- 
tion, has  a  long  evolutionary  history.  We  are  not  all 
born  equal;  we  are  born  with  nervous  systems  that 
bear  upon  them  a  certain  hereditary  stamp,  that 
already  have  within  them  lines  of  less  and  lines  of 
greater  functional  resistance.  The  poet,  we  say,  is 
born  and  not  made,  and  to  a  certain  extent,  if  the 
phrase  is  permitted,  we  are  all  of  us  born  and  not 
made.  On  the  other  hand,  the  child's  nervous  system 
is  exceedingly  plastic  and  impressionable ;  it  is  easily 
moulded  by  education ;  so  that,  to  quote  another  cur- 
rent saying,  habit  may  become  second  nature.  The 
leanings  and  aptitudes  and  predilections  that  we 
show  in  adult  life  are,  then,  the  resultant  of  two  influ- 
ences, heredity  and  education,  nature  and  nurture."* 

*Text-Book  of  Psychology,  1910. 


ATTENTION  211 

Function  of  attention. — The  function  of  attention, 
on  the  side  of  mind,  is  the  unification  of  conscious- 
ness, and  on  the  side  of  body  it  is  the  unification  of 
movement.  Combining  both  points  of  view  in  that  of 
psychophysics,  we  may  say  that  the  function  of  at- 
tention is  the  unification  of  action.  It  is  quite  evident 
that  attention  is  closely  related  to  action.  Stimula- 
tion is  the  initiation  of  action.  Now,  in  such  complex 
organisms  as  man,  there  are  always  several  stimuli 
acting  upon  the  nervous  system  at  the  same  time. 
The  organism  can  not  respond  to  all  of  these  simul- 
taneous stimuli  at  the  same  time.  It  is  a  unity  and 
there  must  be  organisation  and  unity  in  its  actions. 
Therefore  natural  selection  has  developed  the  atten- 
tive individual.  The  nervous  system  constantly 
chooses  and  selects  in  the  sense  that  there  is  always 
a  center  or  focus  of  nervous  activity  as  the  resultant 
of  all  the  various  stimulations.  It  is  this  center  or 
focus  that  determines  the  response  of  the  individual. 
Clearness  of  consciousness,  on  the  mental  side,  is  the 
parallel  of  the  center  or  focus  of  nervous  activity. 
Or,  to  lay  aside  the  distinction  of  mind  and  body,  we 
may  say  that  the  attentive  consciousness  is  the  de- 
terminant of  response.  It  is  almost  as  if  we  had  sev- 
eral minds  of  various  degrees  of  clearness  value,  but 
the  clearest,  with  the  nervous  processes  which  corre- . 
spond  to  it,  always  usurps  the  function  of  action. 

Attention  and  education. — If  we  are  right  in  our 
assumption  that  education  is  to  perfect  adjustments, 
and  if  the  conclusion  of  the  last  paragraph,  that  at- 
tention unifies  action,  is  sound,  then  it  follows  that 
attention  and  education  have  intimate  relations.  Let 
us  see  what  these  are.  It  is  evident  that  attention  is 


212      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

important  for  both  aspects  of  education.  On  the 
knowledge  side,  in  the  getting  and  retaining  of  ideas, 
it  is  only  the  attentive  consciousness  that  counts,  and 
on  the  side  of  expression  we  have  seen  that  in  the 
formation  of  habits  it  is  only  attentive  practice,  at- 
tentive drill,  that  is  effective. 

(1)  One  of  the  functions  of  education  is  to  remove 
consciousness  from  the  level  of  active  attention  to 
that  of  passive  attention  in  as  many  fields  of  activity 
as  possible.  If  children  are  ever  to  be  adequately 
adjusted,  if  they  are  ever  to  move  freely,  easily  and 
efficiently  in  the  fields  of  their  activity,  then  the  as- 
pects of  these  fields  of  activity  must  be  made  matters 
of  passive  attention.  Consider  the  various  branches 
of  study:  in  mathematics  the  facts,  at  first,  are  mat- 
ters of  active  attention ;  they  are  in  the  focus  of  at- 
tention for  but  short  intervals  of  time,  giving  way  to 
ideas  and  perceptions  of  marbles,  tops,  balls,  and 
various  other  things  that  are  much  more  interesting 
and  that  seem  to  have  no  trouble  in  getting  into  the 
focus  of  attention  and  remaining  there  indefinitely. 
But  through  the  influence  of  the  child's  teachers  the 
mathematical  ideas  are  continually  brought  to  the 
focus  of  attention,  although  for  brief  intervals,  until 
finally  they  are  attended  to  with  ease,  and  seem  to 
•have  no  trouble  in  holding  their  own  in  consciousness 
for  hours  at  a  time.  Such  development  is  found  to 
occur  in  every  field  of  mental  activity,  in  all  the 
school  subjects.  When  as  a  child  the  entomologist 
studied  insects,  they  may  have  been  objects  of  passive 
attention  for  him  for  short  periods  of  time,  but  if  he 
became  a  student  of  insects  there  were  long  periods 
of  hard  study,  when  "bugs"  had  many  rivals  for  the 


ATTENTION  213 

focus  of  attention,  and  successful  rivals,  too.  But 
now,  after  many  years  of  study,  the  world  is  to  him 
a  world  of  insects ;  there  is  little  else  in  it.  For  days 
and  weeks  he  lives  among  them,  nothing  else  is  so 
interesting,  there  is  scarcely  any  lasting  conscious- 
ness other  than  an  insect  consciousness.  This  is 
always  true  of  efficient  men.  One  never  moves  with 
efficiency  anywhere  until  consciousness  there  is  on 
the  level  of  passive  attention.  It  could  not  be  other- 
wise. Life  is  action ;  action  flows  from  the  attentive 
consciousness.  There  can  be  no  consistent  action  as 
long  as  there  is  vacillation  of  attention,  as  long  as  there 
is  conflict  and  uncertainty.  And  from  the  point  of  view 
of  constructive  thought  we  come  to  the  same  conclu- 
sion. One 's  thoughts  on  any  subject  will  never  amount 
to  anything  as  long  as  the  ideas  on  that  subject  have 
but  a  fleeting  existence  in  the  focus  of  consciousness. 
One  thinks  efficiently  in  any  field  only  when  he  can 
not  keep  the  ideas  of  that  subject  out  of  the  mind. 
Therefore,  viewing  education  from  the  standpoint 
of  attention,  its  function  is  seen  to  be  the  develop- 
ment of  the  passive  attention  in  the  line  of  life's 
activities.  How  can  this  be  done  ? 

(2)  We  can  get  our  first  answer  to  the  above  ques- 
tion by  a  consideration  of  the  factors  that  give  rise 
to  passive  attention.  We  found  them  to  be  certain 
qualities,  intensity,  suddenness,  repetition,  novelty 
and  congruity.  Our  inherited  nervous  system  is  such 
that  certain  qualities  always  attract  attention;  the 
sudden  stimulus,  the  repeated  stimulus,  the  intensive 
stimulus,  the  congruous  and  the  novel  stimulus  are 
intrinsically  effective  for  consciousness.  We  can  not 
keep  from  attending  to  the  mental  processes  to  which 


214      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSTCHOLOQT 

they  give  rise.  All  through  life  these  factors  are 
effective,  and  there  is  always  a  certain  legitimate 
use  to  be  made  of  them.  Movement  can  usually  be 
depended  upon  to  attract  attention.  The  child  is 
nearly  always  ready  to  attend  to  the  moving  thing 
and  to  the  thing  that  has  life.  Novelty  is  also  usually 
effective.  The  lazy,  incompetent  teacher  settles  down 
to  a  monotonous  procedure,  a  continuous  repetition 
of  a  formal  scheme.  As  a  result,  the  pupils  have  no 
interest  and  make  little  progress.  The  competent 
teacher,  while  adhering  to  a  system,  constantly  is 
finding  new  aspects,  new  details  of  familiar  things, 
and  although  having  a  definite  procedure,  finds  pos- 
sibilities of  variation.  The  result  is  interested  chil- 
dren that  make  progress.  But  perhaps  greater  mis- 
takes are  made  by  failing  to  take  into  account  the 
fact  that  the  congruous  attracts  attention.  In  ordi- 
nary school  work  that  consists  so  largely  in  getting 
ideas,  in  dealing  with  symbols,  teachers  forget  that 
ideas  that  have  little  meaning  will  not  remain  long  in 
attention.  Getting  ideas  is  a  system  of  grafting,  and 
an  idea  can  not  be  grafted  onto  an  alien  stock.  It  is 
the  teacher's  business  to  find  a  group  of  old  ideas 
that  can  receive  the  new.  We  have  to  start  with  only 
the  stock  that  nature  gives  us,  the  instincts,  and  the 
ideas  that  have  resulted  from  their  activities,  to- 
gether with  habits  that  have  been  formed  upon  in- 
stincts as  an  ultimate  basis.  Budding  and  grafting 
onto  this  native  stock  is  our  only  possibility.  Pro- 
fessor Miinsterberg*  has  emphasised  this  factor  of 
attention,  as  contrasted  with  the  others  which  he 
speaks  of  as  being  objective,  while  this  he  calls  sub- 

•H.  Mdnsterberg,  Psychology  and  the  Teacher,  p.  163. 


ATTENTION  215 

jective.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  all  the  factors  have  the 
same  basis,  namely,  the  nature  of  the  individual  as 
dependent  upon  his  past  life.  But  he  is  right  in 
emphasising  the  importance  of  this  factor.  If  we 
wish  to  create  the  possibility  of  long  and  effective 
attention  in  any  aspect  of  life,  we  can  do  so  ade- 
quately only  by  patiently  building  up  a  body  of  or- 
ganised experience  in  that  aspect  of  life.  The  basis 
of  attention  is  always  the  same, — the  needs  of  the 
individual.  The  baby  and  the  young  child  have  no 
trouble  in  attending  to  almost  everything  in  their 
immediate  environment.  They  handle  it,  taste  it, 
pound  it.  When  we  undertake  the  child's  formal 
education  one  of  our  greatest  mistakes  is  that  we  try 
to  interest  him  in  aspects  of  life  that  have  no  mean- 
ing for  him,  and  he  therefore  feels  no  need  for  the 
new  ideas ;  they  have  no  relation  to  his  past  experi- 
ence. A  child  is  not  going  to  pay  very  much  atten- 
tion to  new  ideas  that  can  not  be  identified  with  his 
needs,  i.  e.,  brought  into  relation  to  his  old  ideas. 

(3)  Training  the  attention.  In  what  sense  can  we 
speak  of  training  the  attention  ?  In  the  language  of 
a  faculty  psychology,  attention  would  be  a  power  of 
mind  that  could  be  improved  by  training.  But  if  we 
are  to  consider  attention  as  only  the  clearness  aspect 
of  conscious  processes,  what  about  training?  There 
is  no  training  in  the  sense  that  consciousness  is  some- 
thing in  which  there  is  no  attention,  but  which  ac- 
quires attention  by  training.  Consciousness  is  al- 
ways attentive  in  the  sense  that  there  is  always  some 
sort  of  distribution  of  clearness  values.  "What  we 
are  accustomed  to  call  training  the  attention  would 
be  better  spoken  of  as  training  in  habits  of  learning. 


216      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

A  pupil  can  be  trained,  for  example,  to  sit  down  and 
prepare  a  geometry  lesson  in  spite  of  all  sorts  of  diffi- 
culties and  distractions.  Such  training  comes  about 
in  something  like  the  following  fashion :  When  young 
the  child  is  given  some  task  to  perform.  He  starts 
at  it,  but  later  sees  something  which  interests  him 
more ;  he  leaves  his  task  and  turns  to  the  other  mat- 
ter. In  some  form  or  other  he  is  punished  for  neg- 
lecting the  task,  and  is  told  that  when  he  starts  to  do 
anything  he  must  not  leave  it  till  it  is  finished.  By 
suitable  repetitions  of  such  experience  the  child,  by 
and  by  forms  an  ideal  that  may  crystallize  into  some 
such  words  as,  "a  task  to  be  performed,  stick  to  it  till 
it  is  finished."  The  ideal  extends  itself  to  include 
self-imposed  tasks.  Whenever,  in  the  performance 
of  a  task,  there  comes  temptation  to  leave  it  and  take 
up  something  else,  there  may  come  up  the  words  ex- 
pressing these  ideals  of  work,  and  with  them  mem- 
ories of  painful  experiences  that  had  come  from  neg- 
lected tasks,  all  of  which  serve  to  inhibit  action  upon 
the  initiative  of  the  tempting  idea.  The  pupil  says 
to  himself,  "Where  was  I  reading!  Oh,  yes,  the 
square  of  the  hypotenuse, "  etc.  And  the  interrupted 
work  proceeds.  But  a  training  with  such  results  is 
really  a  training  in  habits  of  work,  is  a  training  in  a 
certain  response  to  a  certain  kind  of  situation,  and  is 
in  no  proper  sense  a  training  of  attention.  It  is  a 
training,  however,  that  results  in  maintaining  atten- 
tion along  certain  lines  of  thought,  when  without 
such  training  there  would  be  a  shift  in  the  direction 
of  attention.  For  this  reason  there  is  no  objection  to 
calling  it  a  training  of  attention.  And  it  is  needless 
to  say  that  it  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  trainings 


ATTENTION  217 

that  a  person  can  have.  As  a  result  of  it,  one  is  able 
to  sit  down  to  his  study  table,  perhaps  with  headache, 
toothache  and  memories  of  unpleasant  experiences 
of  the  day,  and  go  to  work.  At  first  the  ideas  of  the 
study  taken  up  may  have  but  a  fleeting  existence  till 
they  are  driven  out  by  toothache,  but  we  say,  "No, 
I  must  go  ahead  with  this  work;  now,  where  was  I? 
I  was  just  taking  up  the  function  of  attention,"  etc., 
and  so  after  a  little  time,  after  a  little  seesawing  back 
and  forth,  the  ideas  of  our  work  are  focal,  all  else  is 
gone,  and  we  may  work  on  for  hours  without  head- 
ache, toothache  or  memories  becoming  focal.  The 
ability  to  act  in  this  way  is  the  result  of  training,  and 
it  might  very  well  be  called  a  training  in  attention, 
since  it  enables  one,  by  his  habitual  way  of  meeting 
a  definite  situation,  to  direct  the  line  of  his  attention. 
Without  such  a  habit  well  established  no  one  ever 
accomplishes  anything,  for  there  is  nearly  always 
the  toothache,  headache,  memory,  or  something  else 
to  detract  us  from  our  tasks,  and  we  have  to  resort  to 
tricks  and  devices  to  hold  ourselves  to  our  work. 
And  this  is  what  Miinsterberg  calls  subjective  con- 
trol ;  it  is  taking  the  control  of  our  destiny  out  of  the 
hands  of  a  changing  environment  and  putting  it 
within  ourselves.  One  of  the  results  of  such  training 
is  that  it  actually  varies  somewhat  the  type  of  atten- 
tion. When  one,  by  training,  becomes  able  to  hold 
himself  to  the  same  task  of  thought  for  a  long  time, 
it  brings  about  a  sort  of  mono-ideism.  Ideas  hover- 
ing about  the  central  thought  continually  come;  all 
other  incongruous  ideas  are  inhibited.  Such  thought 
becomes  in  the  highest  degree  effective,  for  as  the 


218      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

result  of  the  high  degree  of  nervous  activity  the  radi- 
ations go  into  every  associate  path ;  our  whole  expe- 
rience is  brought  to  bear  on  the  topic  in  hand.  Con- 
sciousness is  enabled  to  work  at  its  highest  point  of 
efficiency.  But  such  a  habit,  on  the  part  of  a  child, 
can  not  be  formed  in  a  day.  And  in  any  case  the  child 
can  not  transcend  his  nature.  He  must  come  to  see 
that  it  is  by  sticking  to  his  task  that  he  can  work  out 
his  ends  and  accomplish  his  purposes.  And  the 
things  that  one  can  work  at  for  hours  are  always  the 
things  that  concern  one,  things  that  are  worth  while. 
There  is  no  training  known  among  men  that  can  keep 
long  before  consciousness  anything  that  does  not 
make  in  rather  strong  degree  some  one  of  the  natural 
appeals  to  be  there. 

(4)  One  reason  that  attention  is  often  poor  in 
school  is  because  so  much  of  the  work  is  dealing  with 
symbols  instead  of  realities.  The  child  is  by  nature 
not  very  much  interested  in  symbols.  They  are  not 
so  apt  to  bite  him  as  a  snake  is,  and  they  are  not  so 
sweet  as  candy.  The  child  gets  an  interest  in  the  sym- 
bols only  after  they  are  identified  with  some  of  his 
natural  interests.  Such  identification  is  made,  for  ex- 
ample, when  a  child  learns  that  by  writing  c  a  n  d  y  he 
can  get  some  of  the  sweet  to  eat.  More  of  the  school 
work  should  deal  with  the  living  and  actual  realities, 
and,  in  the  second  place,  the  teacher  should  take 
greater  pains  to  identify  the  symbols  with  the  needs 
of  the  child  in  as  direct  a  way  as  possible.  It  is 
strange  that  the  schools  have  got  so  far  away  from 
nature,  and  that  the  life  of  the  school  has  got  so  far 
away  from  the  real  life  of  the  world. 


ATTENTION  219 


QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  Analyze  your  consciousness  at  several  times,  noting  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  various  processes  on  the  basis  of  clearness.    Write 
out  your  description  of  these  states,  estimating  the  clearness  of 
the  various  sensations,  perceptions  and  ideas. 

2.  Give  from  your  experience  illustrations  of  primary  and  sec- 
ondary attention.    Illustrate,  from  actual  experience,  the  develop- 
ment of  primary  out  of  secondary  attention. 

3.  Apply  to  different  school  studies  the  statement  that  the  aim 
of  education,  from  the  point  of  view  of  attention,  is  to  reduce  as 
many  of  the  fundamental  activities  as  possible  to  the  realm  of 
primary  attention. 

4.  What  is  meant  by  "habit  of  attention"?    Can  there  be  such 
a  thing  as  habit  of  inattention? 

5.  Suppose  that  a  teacher  notices  that  certain  pupils  are  usually 
inattentive  to  the  regular  work  of  the  class,  how  could  he  deter- 
mine the  cause  of  inattention?    What  possibilities  are  there?    Give, 
if  you  can,  an  example  of  such  a  case,  its  cause  and  the  cure. 

6.  Have  you  any  acquired  acts  from  which  attention  has  en- 
tirely disappeared? 

7.  Can  the  development  of  primary  attention  in  one  field  inca- 
pacitate one  for  attention  in  another  unrelated  field?    Illustrate. 

8.  Visit  several  rooms  in  the  public  school  and  note  the  differ- 
ences in  attention,  and  endeavor  to  discover  the  reasons  for  the 
differences. 

9.  Are  we  justified  in  having  quietude  for  study,  or  should  we 
train  ourselves  to  study  in  the  midst  of  distractions,   such  as 
conversations? 

10.  Make  a  careful  analysis  of  your  consciousness  from  the 
point  of  view  of  attention  while  playing  the  piano  and  singing  at 
the  same  time.    Does  your  attention  shift  from  one  to  the  other, 
or  is  one  process  continually  low  in  clearness  value?    Does  either 
process  ever  go  entirely  below  the  level  of  consciousness? 

11.  From  the  point  of  view  of  attention,  can  you  justify  or  must 
you  condemn  the  practice  of  beginning  one  recitation  by  reviewing 
the  preceding? 

12.  Does  the  length  of  time  that  we  can  hold  the  attention  of  a 
child  depend  on  the  subject-matter? 

13.  In  what  sense  can  you  force  a  pupil  to  give  attention? 
Illustrate. 

14.  Should  a  teacher  ever  attempt  to  secure  attention  to  the 
subject  that  is  before  the  class  by  telling  jokes  or  by  making 
unusual  movements  or  noises? 

15.  Can  you  get  a  child  to  attend  to  anything  that  has  no  inter- 
est for  him? 

16.  Show  fully  how  it  is  possible  for  something  that  has  no 
interest  in  itself  for  a  child  to  acquire  an  interest  by  being  con- 
nected with  something  else  intrinsically   interesting.     Illustrate 
from  your  own  experience. 


220      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

17.  Should  children  be  allowed  to  specialize  in  subjects  in 
which  they  seem  to  have  great  natural  capacity  and  interest? 

18.  Do  you  think  that  any  normal  child  can  become  interested 
in,  and  pursue  profitably,  all  the  school  subjects?    Give  the  evi- 
dence on  which  your  answer  is  based. 

19.  What  is  the  effect  on  a  child  of  having  him  in  a  grade  that 
is  quite  too  hard  for  him? 

20.  What  Is  usually  the  trouble  when  the  majority  of  an  audi- 
ence pay  little  attention  to  a  lecture  or  sermon? 

21.  What  distribution  of  work,  play  and  rest  should  there  be 
in  the  primary  grades?    How  long  can  a  child  give  effective  at- 
tention? 

22.  In  what  sense  is  attention  dependent  upon  bodily  nourish- 
ment? 

REFERENCES. 

FOR  SYSTEMATIC  TREATMENT: 

E.  B.  Titchener,  Textbook  of  Psychology,  1910,  p.  265;  Lectures 
on  the  Elementary  Psychology  of  Feeling  and  Attention,  1908,  Chs. 
v-vii ;  W.  James,  Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  i,  Ch.  xi ;  Talks  to 
Teachers,  Ch.  xi;  Briefer  Course,  Ch.  xiii;  J.  R.  Angell,  Psychol- 
ogy, 1905,  p.  04 ;  Ebbinghaus,  Psychology,  1908,  p.  87 ;  R.  M.  Yerkes, 
Introduction  to  Psychology,  1911,  p.  292;  C.  H.  Judd,  Psychology, 
1907,  p.  189;  W.  B.  Pillsbury,  Attention,  1908;  H.  MUnsterberg, 
Psychology  and  the  Teacher,  Ch.  xviii. 

ORIGINAL  STUDIES :  L.  R.  Geissler,  On  the  Measurement  of 
Attention,  in  American  Journal  of  Psychology,  Vol.  xx,  p.  473,  an 
exhaustive  experimental  study ;  H.  W.  Chase,  Some  Aspects  of  the 
Attention  Problem,  in.  Fed.  Sem.,  Vol.  xvi,  p.  281. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THINKING. 

Association  of  ideas. — One  characteristic  of  man 
that  distinguishes  him,  perhaps,  from  most  of  the 
lower  animals,  is  that  he  has  images  and  ideas.  His 
life  is  not  merely  a  perceptual  life.  His  experiences 
may  be  lived  again.  What  is  at  one  time  sensation, 
may  be  experienced  again  as  image ;  what  is  at  one 
time  perception,  may  be  experienced  again  as  idea. 
One  may  see,  today,  a  bridge  over  a  river,  and  to- 
morrow, hundreds  of  miles  away,  may  see  the  bridge 
again  as  idea.  What  interests  us  here,  however,  is 
the  fact  that  when  tomorrow  the  bridge  comes  back 
to  us  as  visual  image  or  idea  there  come  also  other 
ideas  which  correspond  to  perceptions  which  we  had 
along  with  that  of  the  bridge.  While  crossing  the 
bridge  we  were  riding  with  our  friend,  Mr.  X,  talk- 
ing about  the  political  campaign.  This  all  comes 
back  to  us  now  as  we  think  of  the  bridge.  This  group- 
ing together  of  images  and  ideas  in  accordance  with 
our  past  experience  is  known  as  the  association  of 
ideas.  The  law  of  this  association  is  that  what  is 
experienced  together  or  in  close  succession  once, 
either  as  perceptions  or  ideas,  is  likely  to  be  so  ex- 
perienced again.  A  child  may  see  a  sheep  and  hear 
it  bleat ;  afterward  it  may  see  a  sheep  or  a  picture  of 
a  sheep  or  in  any  way  have  the  idea  of  sheep  brought 
to  mind  and  have  also  the  idea  of  bleating.  So  close 
is  such  an  association — an  animal  with  its  character- 
cm] 


222      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

istic  sound — that  a  child  is  likely  to  name  an  animal 
"after"  this  sound,  or  characteristic  action.  It  is  in 
this  way  that  our  experiences  are  built  up.  Experi- 
encing things  together  and  in  various  combinations 
is  what  makes  knowledge  and  its  organisation  pos- 
sible. The  child  not  only  sees  the  sheep  and  hears 
it  bleat,  but  sees  it  eat  grass,  sees  the  wool  clipped 
from  its  back,  sees  this  wool  pass  through  various 
stages  of  manufacture,  sees  the  sheep's  young,  eats 
sheep, — in  a  word, — the  child  sees  sheep  in  a  great 
multitude  of  situations  and  relations.  These  sheep 
experiences  of  the  child,  from  first  to  last,  are  built 
together  into  an  organised  whole,  and  may  serve  as 
a  type  of  what  constitutes  knowledge.  After  the 
child  has  lived  in  this  world  for  several  years,  he  has 
built  up  an  inner  world  corresponding  to  the  outer 
world.  The  relationships  in  time  and  space  of  the 
objects  in  the  outer  world  have  their  correspondence 
in  the  inner  world  of  ideas.  The  objects  of  the  outer 
world  are  grouped  in  infinite  fashion,  so  are  our 
ideas.  "When  one  thinks  of  the  intricacy  and  com- 
plexity of  mental  life,  one  is  likely  to  think  that  so 
simple  a  bond  as  contiguity,  so  simple  a  thing  as 
being  together  in  time  and  space  can  not  explain  all 
the  connections  to  be  found  in  mind.  Three  consid- 
erations may  help  to  make  the  matter  believable: 

(1)  We  can  observe  association  in  its  simplicity  in 
a  young  child,  where  in  most  cases,  the  basis  of  the 
connections  of  ideas  is  clear.    The  experience  of  the 
young  child  is  so  limited,  that  in  most  cases,  it  is  easy 
to  explain  the  flow  of  ideas  from  one  to  another. 

(2)  We  must  also  bear  in  mind  that  the  external  rela- 
tions of  objects  are,  indeed,  infinite.     Therefore  a 


THINKING  223 

person  that  has  lived  here  for  a  great  many  years 
has  experienced  the  objects  of  the  world  in  a  great 
complexity  of  relationships.  (3)  All  our  experience 
is  bound  together  through  mediating  experiences. 
All  the  experiences  of  life  are  therefore  organised 
into  a  whole.  Let  us  illustrate :  The  bray  of  a  mule 
may  make  one  think  of  Christ  or  one's  first  sweet- 
heart or  perhaps  of  Pittsburgh, — of  Christ,  because 
one  has  read  of  the  triumphal  entry  into  Jerusalem ; 
of  one's  first  sweetheart,  because  perchance  once 
while  driving  with  that  lovely  damsel,  one  collided 
with  a  mule;  of  Pittsburgh,  because  one  has  seen 
coal  wagons  drawn  by  mules  and  been  told  by  the 
driver  that  the  coal  was  mined  at  Pittsburgh. 

The  reader  may  think  that  such  explanations  raise 
more  difficulties  than  they  explain.  What  determines 
the  succession  of  ideas  when  each  may  appear  in 
many  settings!  There  are  several  determining  fac- 
tors;* among  them  being  recency,  frequency  and 
mental  * '  set. ' '  Other  things  equal,  the  more  recently 
objects  have  been  experienced  together  or  in  close 
succession,  the  more  likely  is  the  perception  or  idea 
of  one  to  be  followed  by  the  idea  of  the  other.  Other 
things  equal,  the  more  frequently  objects  have  been 
experienced  together  in  the  past,  either  as  percep- 
tions or  ideas,  the  more  likely  is  the  idea  of  one  to  be 
followed  by  that  of  the  other.  But,  other  things 
equal,  one's  mental  set,— one's  frame  of  mind,  mood, 
or  present  problem, — determines  what  idea,  out  of 
all  the  possibilities,  will  follow  the  one  now  focal. 
If  one  is  reading  the  bible  or  taking  part  in  a  funeral 

*A  complete  list  would  include  primacy,  intensity  and  possibly 
other  factors. 


224      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

procession,  the  bray  may  bring  the  triumphal  entry 
to  mind ;  if  one  is  reading  a  love  scene  in  the  latest 
novel,  then,  perhaps,  the  bray  brings  up  an  image  01 
the  early  loved  one.  One  must  also  remember  that 
the  basis  of  association  is  to  be  found  in  the  nervous 
system,  but  of  the  details  of  the  neural  conditions  of 
association,  we  know  little.  We  have  sufficient  evi- 
dence, however,  to  make  us  believe  that  our  ideas 
and  images,  as  well  as  our  perceptions  and  sensa- 
tions, have  their  neural  conditions  without  which 
they  could  not  occur.  The  fact  of  brain  activity  be- 
ing the  condition  of  mental  activity  helps  somewhat 
to  understand  association.  Let  us  see : 

Our  ideas  have  as  their  conditions  brain  activities. 
The  sphere  of  the  latter  is  nerve  cells.  These  nerve 
cells  are  all  bound  together  by  fibers.  Brain  activity 
in  one  group  of  cells  arouses  activities  in  other 
groups  of  cells.  The  laws  of  recency,  frequency  and 
mental  ''set"  doubtless  have  their  ultimate  explana- 
tion in  the  physiology  of  the  brain.  Let  us  be  clear 
as  to  the  situation.  The  laws  of  recency,  frequency 
and  mental  "set"  are  descriptive  statements  of  psy- 
chological facts  that  have  been  fairly  well  demon- 
strated inductively  and  experimentally.  The  physio- 
logical explanation  is  a  hypothesis.  It  has,  however, 
many  facts  to  support  it. 

Imagination. — In  chapter  XIII  we  distinguished 
two  kinds  of  images,  the  image  of  memory  and  the 
image  of  imagination.  If  an  idea  has  accompanying 
ideas  to  give  it  setting  in  time  and  space,  we  call  it 
memory.  If  it  lack  those  accompanying  processes 
which  give  it  a  feeling  of  familiarity,  we  call  it 
imagination.  Imagination  and  memory  are,  then, 


THINKING  225 

the  terms  that  designate  the  two  extremes  of  our 
forms  of  imagery.  We  have  learned  that  memory 
plays  an  important  part  in  the  life  of  man.  So,  also, 
does  imagination.  It  gives  color  to  the  bare,  prosaic 
affairs  of  life.  To  illustrate :  The  calendar  on  my 
wall  has  on  it  a  simple  picture  of  several  pretty  Jer- 
sey heifers  standing  in  a  grassy  meadow,  with  a  back- 
ground of  trees,  mountains  and  blue  sky.  As  I  look 
at  the  picture  scores  of  images  come  and  go.  Some 
of  them  are  clearly  images  with  definite  settings,  but 
there  are  also  many  more  images  more  or  less  vague 
and  fleeting.  I  see  now  a  rabbit  here,  a  bird  there, 
some  people  yonder.  In  a  word,  the  little  picture 
seems  only  a  stage  on  which  are  enacted  in  quick  suc- 
cession the  scenes  of  an  endless  drama.  Very  promi- 
nent are  the  feelings  that  these  images  have  brought 
and  left.  The  picture  has  brought  back  to  me  for  the 
moment  my  childhood  days,  clover  fields  and  bumble- 
bees, and  over  all  is  a  characteristic  mood.  If  we 
had  no  imagination  a  picture  would  mean  nothing 
to  us,  but  since  we  have  it  the  picture  can  call  forth 
a  train  of  ideas  and  images  with  their  accompanying 
feelings.  The  greatness  of  a  picture  may  be  meas- 
ured by  its  power  to  call  forth  images  of  memory 
and  imagination.  This  same  thing  is  true  of  litera- 
ture. The  words  of  the  poet,  novelist  or  historian  are 
but  the  means  of  enabling  us  to  picture  forth  an 
imaginary  world.  The  words  call  up  bits  of  experi- 
ence from  various  parts  of  our  past  life  which  fit 
together  into  a  harmonious  whole.  To  illustrate,  let 
the  reader  read  such  a  thing  as  Tennyson's  Crossing 
the  Bar,  or  Joaquin  Miller's  Columbus,  and  by  in- 
trospection determine  the  sequence  of  ideas.  The 


226      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

result,  of  course,  will  be  different  for  different  people, 
but  for  all  there  will  come  a  train  of  ideas,  for  the 
most  part,  images  of  imagination,  visual,  auditory 
and  kinaesthetic,  which  arouse  a  very  definite  mood 
and  frame  of  mind.  It  is  such  imagery  that  enriches 
our  experience.  Nearly  everything  that  we  see  or 
hear  brings  up  some  past  experience  as  memory  or 
imagination,  and  this  revived  experience,  this  imagi- 
nation, clothes  the  bare  skeleton  of  perceptual  ex- 
perience. 

Thinking. — By  thinking,  in  a  broad  sense,  we  usu- 
ally mean  the  succession  in  our  mind  of  ideas,  either 
of  memory  or  imagination.  This  flow  of  ideas,  in 
accordance  with  the  law  of  association,  is  called 
thought.  Directed  or  purposive  thought  may  be 
called  reason.  In  reasoning  we  are  solving  a  prob- 
lem, meeting  a  situation.  To  illustrate :  I  go  down 
town  with  my  umbrella  and  come  back  without  it. 
As  I  hang  up  my  hat  I  miss  my  umbrella  from  the 
rack  where  I  am  used  to  seeing  it.  I  then  have  an 
image  of  myself  going  off  with  the  umbrella.  I  say, 
" Where  did  I  leave  it?"  I  then  see  myself  in  the 
postoffice,  and  see  myself  leaving  with  it.  I  did  not 
leave  it  there.  I  see  myself  in  the  bank.  I  stood  the 
umbrella  in  the  corner  while  I  wrote  a  check.  I  left 
the  bank  putting  the  money  into  my  purse.  There  I 
left  the  umbrella.  I  go  to  the  bank  at  once  and  find 
that  the  cashier  has  put  my  umbrella  away  for  me. 
This  is  thinking  in  terms  of  memory  images. 

Again,  suppose  one  is  asked  whether  dew  is  more 
likely  to  form  on  a  clear  night  or  on  a  cloudy  night. 
One  says:  "Let  me  see,"  and  then  has  a  succession 
of  ideas  concerning  the  nature  of  dew,  the  cause  of 


THINKING  227 

dew,  etc.  One  thinks  in  terms  of  memory  images,  of 
clear  skies,  their  causes  and  consequences,  of  cloudy 
skies  and  their  causes  and  consequences,  and  pres- 
ently says,  "Why,  on  clear  nights,  because  on  clear 
nights  the  grass  cools  by  radiation  and  the  surround- 
ing air  is  cooled  to  the  dew  point.  On  cloudy  nights 
radiation  is  largely  checked,  the  air  does  not  cool 
down  to  the  dew  point. ' '  The  following  may  further 
illustrate  the  action  aspect  of  reasoning:  A  boy, 
walking  alone  in  a  wood,  comes  to  a  stream,  too  wide 
for  him  to  jump  across.  He  pauses,  looks  about  and 
sees  on  the  bank  a  pole  and  several  large  stones.  He 
has  walked  on  poles  and  fences,  he  therefore  sees 
himself  putting  the  pole  across  and  walking  on  it, 
but  before  having  time  to  do  it,  he  recalls  walking  on 
poles  that  had  turned.  The  perception  of  stones  now 
becomes  focal,  and  since  no  inhibiting  ideas  arise, 
they  are  soon  piled  into  the  stream  and  the  boy  walks 
across.  This  flow  of  ideas  leading  up  to  the  action 
takes  different  forms, — it  is  not  always  visual 
imagery,  it  may  be  auditory  or  kinaesthetic,  and  as 
we  grow  older,  it  is  very  likely  to  be  in  the  form  of 
verbal  ideas  or  actually  spoken  words.  But  what- 
ever the  form,  the  result  is  the  same. 

In  reasoning,  then,  we  meet  a  situation  that  must 
be  solved.  In  accordance  with  the  law  of  association 
the  situation  arouses  first  one  idea  from  our  past 
experience,  then  another,  till  our  problem  is  solved. 
The  problem  is  solved  when  we  come  to  a  state  of  be- 
lief. The  whole  process,  the  associations  and  the 
state  of  belief,  is  dependent  upon  our  past  experi- 
ence. One's  experience  may  be  entirely  inadequate, 
one  may  reach  a  wrong  solution.  But  in  any  case, 


228      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

the  material  is  the  same, — our  experience;  and  the 
method  is  the  same, — association,  or  rather,  the  re- 
call of  ideas  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  associa- 
tion. In  the  highest  form  of  abstract  reasoning  the 
process  is  not  essentially  different.  One  can  in  no 
case  do  more  than  await  the  flow  of  ideas  that  follow 
upon  the  situation  presented  by  the  problem,  and 
both  the  ideas  one  has  and  the  nature  of  their  asso- 
ciation are  dependent  upon  experience.  The  flow  of 
ideas  proceeds  until  one  comes  that  fits  the  situation, 
so  far  as  one's  experience  is  concerned. 

Suppose  one  is  asked  if  it  is  ever  right  to  tell  a  lie. 
One  then  has  in  succession  a  number  of  ideas,  usually 
memories,  of  lies  of  various  kinds  told  by  himself  or 
others  under  various  situations,  one  remembers  the 
results;  one  also  has  a  succession  of  ideas  relating 
to  right  and  wrong  conduct ;  these  may  depend  upon 
our  early  training  and  the  ideals  that  we  formed  as 
a  result.  This  is  probably  crystallized  into  a  verbal 
expression,  such  as  "The  end  justifies  the  means," 
"Tell  the  truth  at  all  hazards,"  etc.  Finally  a  norm 
of  conduct  and  the  particular  situation  presented 
come  together  in  consciousness,  excluding  or  inhibit- 
ing other  ideas,  the  problem  is  solved,  we  feel  con- 
tent, we  have  belief. 

Training  in  reasoning. — In  a  very  definite  sense 
one  can  be  trained  in  reasoning.  Of  course,  the  basis 
is  perceptual  experience.  If  a  child  is  ever  to  reason 
as  a  physicist,  he  must  have  a  wide  experience  with 
the  physical  world,  he  must  see  falling  bodies  and 
measure  their  increments,  he  must  heat  bodies  and 
measure  their  expansion,  he  must  have  a  wide  ex- 
perience with  electricity,  sound  and  light. 


THINKING  229 

such  wide  experience,  when  the  physicist  is  con- 
fronted with  a  problem,  he  solves  it  as  follows :  The 
situation  presented  in  the  problem  arouses,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  law  of  association,  various  ideas 
until  he  has  an  idea  that  pictures  just  such  a  situa- 
tion as  the  present  with  such  and  such  an  outcome. 
Until  such  an  idea  comes,  then,  the  physicist  cannot 
solve  his  problem  without  resorting  to  experiment. 
He  says :  * '  I  do  not  know,  I  shall  try  it  and  see. ' ' 
I  once  asked  a  physicist  which  would  freeze  first,  a 
pan  of  cold  water  or  one  of  hot  water,  placed  out  of 
doors  on  a  cold  day.  He  replied  that  there  was  no 
reason  why  the  cold  one  should  not  freeze  first,  and 
besides  he  said  he  had  tried  the  experiment  and  found 
the  cold  water  froze  first.  This  illustrates  the  usual 
procedure  of  science.  When  a  new  problem  is  pre- 
sented, by  direct  manipulation,  the  scientist  produces 
the  required  situation  and  observes  the  result.  He 
then  has  a  new  mental  connection  or  association 
ready  to  function  in  the  future.  One  can,  then,  train 
children  to  think,  first  of  all,  by  leading  them  to  get 
a  wide  and  rich  experience, — experience  in  the  realm 
wherein  they  are  to  think.  This  is  primary,  for  with- 
out experience  there  can  be  no  thought.  A  teacher 
can  further  help  the  child  (1)  by  directing  attention 
to  important  aspects  of  experience,  helping  in  the 
analysis  and  synthesis  of  experience.  (2)  In  the 
next  place  the  teacher  can  aid  the  pupil  by  encourag- 
ing a  habit  of  cautious  procedure.  A  child  may  ac- 
cept the  first  idea  that  comes  as  the  solution  to  his 
problem;  he  may  not  be  critical, — he  can  be  led  to 
form  the  habit  of  waiting,  of  saying,  "hold  on  here, 
let  us  see,  may  be  it  is  not  this  way,"  then  other  ideas 


230      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

come,  and  others,  then  the  first  again,  perhaps. 
Finally,  after  change  of  ideas  back  and  forth,  a  cer- 
tain idea  persists  as  a  solution  of  the  situation.  In 
such  a  case,  if  the  experience  of  the  individual  has 
been  broad  enough,  the  solution  is  likely  to  be  cor- 
rect. (3)  The  child  can  also  be  encouraged  to  form 
a  habit  of  putting  the  solution  reached  as  above 
described  to  some  crucial  test.  This  is  illustrated  in 
the  case  of  the  physicist.  He  was  pretty  sure  about 
the  freezing  of  the  water,  but  still  there  might  be 
some  factor  that  he  had  never  considered,  so  he  puts 
the  matter  to  the  test  of  direct  experiment, — this  is 
a  habit  with  him,  as  it  is  with  all  men  who  deal  with 
natural  and  physical  science. 

To  illustrate  further,  suppose  one  asks  a  boy  what 
will  happen  if  a  strip  of  iron  be  firmly  riveted  to 
another  strip  of  copper  and  the  strips  heated.  The 
boy  can  solve  the  problem  provided  he  has  noted  the 
relative  expansion  of  iron  and  copper  when  heated. 
The  situation  will  soon  bring  the  proper  ideas.  But 
if  he  knows  only  that  metals  usually  expand  when 
heated,  but  does  not  know  the  relative  expansion  of 
iron  and  copper,  he  will  not  be  able  to  solve  the  prob- 
lem; he  must  experiment.  But  in  either  case,  in  the 
early  stages  of  intellectual  progress,  he  should  be 
encouraged  to  verify  his  conclusions  by  resorting  to 
experiment  or  some  form  of  crucial  test.  First  the 
problem,  then  the  solution,  then  the  test.  And  in  each 
of  the  steps  the  teacher  can  be  of  much  service  to  the 
pupil.  The  teacher's  function  here  is  to  direct  the 
experience  of  the  child,  set  the  proper  kind  of  prob- 
lems, and  aid  in  the  forming  of  proper  habits  of  ap- 
proach to  their  solution.  In  the  early  stages  of  prog- 


THINKING  231 

ress  in  reasoning,  imitation  will  function  as  an  im- 
portant factor.  But  later  through  imitation  a  child 
gains  a  lot  of  experience  that  functions  directly  in  the 
solution  of  problems. 

While  one  can  be  trained  in  reasoning,  this  train- 
ing is  to  a  large  degree  specific.  In  the  first  place, 
because  in  thinking  or  in  reasoning,  we  can  only  have 
ideas  that  have  grown  out  of  our  experience.  The 
material  of  thought  is  ideas,  and  the  basis  of  ideas 
is  experience.  One  cannot  reason  in  a  field  where 
he  has  had  no  experience.  Therefore  a  person  who 
had  spent  his  life  as  a  botanist  and  had  little  or  no 
experience  in  other  fields  could  not  reason  in  those 
other  fields.  One  would  not  think  of  going  to  such  a 
man  to  have  him  solve  a  problem  in  medicine,  or 
law,  or  in  engineering.  One  cannot  reason  where  he 
has  no  facts.  Then  there  is  a  further  reason  why 
training  in  reasoning  is  specific.  There  are  certain 
habits  of  procedure  best  adapted  to  solving  the  prob- 
lems presented  in  the  various  fields  of  thought.  One 
habitually  puts  to  himself  certain  forms  of  questions 
that  best  lead  to  the  proper  solution  of  the  problem. 
This  is  the  reason  why  men  who  successfully  meet 
the  situations  of  their  own  profession  so  often  utterly 
fail  when  called  upon  to  meet  unfamiliar  situations 
in  other  fields.  Often  a  scientist  attempts  to  solve  a 
problem  in  another  science  than  his  own,  the  result 
is  usually  to  make  himself  ridiculous.  It  may  be  that 
there  are  certain  forms  of  thought  that  are  to  some 
extent  universal,  forms  which  one  learns  by  studying 
logic  and  mathematics.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
great  thinkers  in  the  various  spheres  of  thought 
have  not  learned  to  think  by  a  formal  study  of  rea- 


232      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

soning.  They  have  become  great  thinkers  in  their 
science  by  thinking  in  that  science.  Of  course  some 
fields  of  thought  are  so  closely  allied  both  as  to 
matter  and  method  that  practice  in  one  would  give 
help  in  the  other;  such  intimate  relationships  exist 
between  zoology  and  botany,  physics  and  chemistry, 
mathematics  and  astronomy. 

It  follows,  then,  that  children  should  have  a  wide 
experience,  and  a  wide  training  in  thinking.  They 
must  be  trained  in  meeting  the  thought  situations  in 
the  myriad  aspects  of  life.  As  they  grow  older  they 
should  have  more  intensive  training  in  the  narrow 
sphere  of  their  life-work. 

Meaning. — The  meaning  of  an  idea  is  another  idea 
or  group  of  ideas  that  always  accompanies  it  in  cer- 
tain situations.  These  accompanying  ideas  have 
reference  to  our  needs  in  the  definite  situation. 
Meaning  is  best  understood  when  considered  with 
reference  to  action.  Ordinarily  the  situations  of  life 
call  for  action.  Constantly,  as  long  as  we  live,  we 
must  be  meeting  situations.  We  are  sitting  in  our 
library  reading  when  the  door  bell  rings.  What  does 
the  ringing  of  the  door  bell  mean?  That  some  one 
wants  to  see  me,  that  I  must  go  to  the  door  and  let 
him  in.  When  the  bell  rings  I  have  a  vague  image  of 
some  one  standing  at  the  door  and  of  myself  letting 
him  in.  These  ideas  that  accompany  the  ringing  are 
its  meaning.  They  are  often  very  schematic.  The 
perception  or  idea  may  throw  us  into  a  "set"  or  atti- 
tude that  determines  action,  but  is  very  poor  in 
conscious  contents.  We  may  even  open  the  door  un- 
consciously, automatically. 

A  perception  at  first  may  have  no  meaning  because 


THINKING  233 

it  is  new  to  experience.  We  may  see  an  object  for 
the  first  time ;  it  is  unfamiliar ;  it  arouses  no  associate 
ideas.  We  do  not  know  what  to  do  with  the  new 
thing.  Curiosity  prompts  us  to  touch  it.  Some 
barbs,  perhaps,  stick  our  fingers.  Henceforth,  the 
thing  has  some  meaning  to  us.  When  we  see  it,  we 
remember  the  pain,  we  turn  away  from  it,  we  leave 
it  alone.  It  now  has  meaning ;  it  is  a  thing  that  pricks. 
The  structural  and  functional  aspects  are  clear. 
When  we  meet  the  things  of  the  world  we  have  to 
take  up  an  attitude  toward  them;  afterward,  when 
we  experience  these  things  in  perception  or  idea,  our 
previous  responses  and  their  consequences  come  to 
us  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  association.  This 
accompaniment  is  the  structural  aspect  of  meaning. 
Now  since  our  response  is  always  an  important 
aspect  of  this  association,  functionally,  we  may  say 
that  by  meaning  we  mean  use.  A  thing  means  what 
we  can  do  with  it.  And  from  both  points  of  view  a 
thing  means  different  things  in  different  situations. 

It  is  evident  that  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
active  life  of  an  individual  the  meaning  of  an  idea 
is  the  most  important  thing  about  it.  It  is  ideas  with 
their  meaning  that  are  determined  by  association; 
it  is  ideas  with  their  meaning  that  are  the  important 
factors  in  reasoning,  and  that  on  the  side  of  con- 
sciousness represent  the  determinant  of  action.  Cer- 
tainly from  the  point  of  view  of  a  teacher,  an  idea  is 
important  only  in  so  far  as  it  has  meaning.  What 
does  Lincoln  mean?  What  does  Napoleon  mean? 
What  does  Hamlet  mean?  What  does  the  civil  war 
mean?  Wliat  does  evolution  mean?  What  does 
democracy  mean?  So  far  as  the  getting  of  knowl- 


234      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

edge  is  concerned,  the  function  of  the  teacher  is 
largely  to  assist  the  pupil  to  organize  his  knowledge 
with  reference  to  meaning. 

Reason  and  education. — We  have  considered  edu- 
cation as  a  process  by  which  a  child  becomes  ad- 
justed to  its  environment.  From  this  point  of  view 
the  place  and  importance  of  instincts,  habit,  memory 
and  attention  have  been  considered.  What,  let  us 
now  ask,  is  the  function  of  reasoning  in  such  a  sys- 
tem as  we  have  outlined?  Efficient  action  has  been 
held  before  us  as  the  aim  of  education.  Efficient 
action  must  have  an  instinctive  or  habitual  basis. 
But  human  life  is  so  complex  that  new  situations  are 
constantly  arising,  for  which  there  is  no  organized 
form  of  response,  but  for  which  any  one  of  several 
forms  of  instinctive  or  habitual  action  may,  perhaps, 
be  more  or  less  adequate.  However,  since  the  situa- 
tion is  new  or  has  some  new  aspect,  no  response 
comes  immediately.  There  is  a  pause  between  stimu- 
lus and  response.  At  such  a  juncture,  reasoning,  as 
we  have  defined  it,  takes  places.  The  conditions 
which  give  rise  to  reasoning,  then,  are  always  more 
or  less  new  in  the  life  of  the  individual.  As  a  result 
of  the  associative  processes,  the  difficulty  of  the  new 
situation  is  met  by  some  sort  of  action.  Afterward, 
with  repetition  of  the  situation,  the  action  becomes 
habitual. 

Of  course,  the  passage  of  action  from  the  stage  of 
reason  to  that  of  habit  is  not  always  so  simple.  The 
first  response  to  a  new  situation  may  bring  unhappy 
results.  The  appearance  of  an  appropriate  response, 
in  such  a  case,  is  delayed  till  a  later  appearance  of 
the  situation.  But  in  such  cases  reasoning  fails  of 


THINKING  235 

its  function,  which  is  to  secure  in  a  new  situation  the 
best  possible  form  of  response  as  dependent  upon  the 
experience  of  the  individual.  It  is  evident  that  reas- 
oning indicates  a  stage  of  incomplete  adjustment 
when  there  is  a  pause,  as  indicated  above,  between 
stimulus  and  response.  During  this  pause  associa- 
tion brings  various  ideas  to  consciousness.  Finally, 
some  one  of  these  ideas  becomes,  for  the  time,  focal, 
and  action  ensues.  The  length  of  the  pause  for  the 
appearance  of  ideas,  and  the  fulness  and  adequacy 
of  association,  may  be  taken  as  a  measure  of  intelli- 
gence. For,  although  reasoning  represents  a  stage 
of  incomplete  adjustment,  it  is  a  means  of  meeting 
new  situations  with  some  success  without  making  the 
individual  entirely  dependent  upon  the  costly  method 
of  trial  and  error.  That  education  would  seem  to  be 
most  effective  that  insures  a  pause  in  new  situations, 
preventing  premature  action  upon  the  appearance 
of  the  first  idea;  that  provides  for  the  child  a  rich 
and  wide  experience  which  is  so  organised  as  to  be 
available  for  the  solution  of  the  new  situation;  that 
puts  the  solutions  thus  attained  to  the  crucial  test  of 
practice,  and  that  perfects,  by  reducing  to  habits,  the 
forms  of  response  thus  attained. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  Would  you  say  that  association  is  essentially  a  physiological 
phenomenon?    Is  there  anything  in  the  nature  of  an  idea  that  can 
bind  it  to  another  idea? 

2.  Explain  fully  the  statement  that  the  basis  of  association  is 
in  the  nervous  system. 

3.  Give  specific  illustrations  to  show  how  a  knowledge  of  the 
law  of  association  may  be  applied  to  classroom  work. 

4.  Can  a  teacher  direct  the  pupil's  line  of  thought  by  suggession? 

5.  What  is  meant  by  the  two  worlds,  inner  and  outer? 

6.  One  can  easily  make  both  qualitative  and  quantitative  studies 


236      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

of  association.  A  test  in  the  free  flow  of  ideas,  known  as  the 
"uncontrolled  association  test,"  can  be  given  as  follows :  The  class 
is  told  to  write  down  as  fast  as  possible  all  the  words  that  coine 
to  mind,  starting  with  a  certain  word  given  by  the  instructor. 
Three  minutes  may  be  allowed  for  the  test.  And  any  word  will  do 
to  start  with.  In  a  test  given  to  the  author's  class  the  first  word 
was  work.  The  average  number  of  words  written  by  the  class  was 
54,  the  smallest  number  by  any  person  was  16,  and  the  largest  was 
92,  the  mean  variation  being  12.  The  list  of  words  written  by  one 
student  was  as  follows :  work,  wood  pile,  ax,  chop,  chip,  carry, 
burn,  run,  jump,  fight,  school,  building,  new,  home,  summer,  book, 
money,  canvass,  failure,  work,  school,  bell,  class  next  hour,  lesson, 
extra  work,  grade. 

7.  In   "controlled  association"   three  tests   may  be  used — the 
genus-species  test,  the  part-ichole  test,  and  the  oppositcs  test.    The 
genus-species  test  may  be  given  as  follows :   Give  the  members  of 
the  class  a  list  of  words,  with  instructions  to  write  examples  of 
the  class  named  by  each  word.     Make  the  time  so  short  that  no 
one  can  finish  the  list.    The  following  list  may  be  used  :    ( 1 )  moun- 
tain, (2)  city,   (3)  weed,   (4)  metal,   (5)  furniture,   (6)   machine, 
(7)   author,   (8)   planet,   (9)   river,   (10)   book,    (11)   ocean,   (12) 
fruit,  (13)  country,  (14)  animal,  (15)  bird,  (16)  food,  (17)  lake, 
(18)  poet,  (19)  college,  (20)  statesman. 

8.  The  part-whole  test  may  be  given  as  follows :    Provide  the 
members  of  the  class  with  a   list  of  words  that  name  parts  of 
wholes.    The  students  are  to  write  the  name  of  the  whole  of  which 
the  word  is  a  part.    To  illustrate,  for  flnger,  one  might  write  hand. 
The  following  list  may  be  used:    (1)  window,  (2)  leaf,  (3)  pillow, 

(4)  button,   (5)   nose,   (6)   smokestack,   (7)   cogwheel,   (8)   cover, 
(9)  letter,  (10)  sepal,  (11)  page,  (12)  cob,  (13)   axle,  (14)  joist, 
(15)  blade,  (16)  sail,  (17)  coach,  (18)  cylinder,  (19)  beak,  (20) 
stamen. 

9.  For  the  opposites  test   the  following  list  from   Whipple's 
Manual  may  be  used:    (1)  good,  (2)  inside,  (3)  slow,  (4)  short, 

(5)  little,  (6)  soft,  (7)  black,  (8)  dark,  (9)  sad,  (10)  true,  (11) 
dislike,  (12)  poor,  (13)  well,  (14)  sorry,  (15)  thick,  (16)  full,  (17) 
peace,  (18)  few,  (19)  below,  (20)  enemy.   Make  the  time  so  short 
that  no  one  can  finish.    One  difficulty  with  giving  these  association 
tests  to  a  class  is  that  ideas  may  come  faster  than  they  can  be  written 
down.    If  it  is  possible  to  give  the  tests  to  individuals,  the  associ- 
ated word  may  be  spoken  and  the  experimenter  takes  the  time 
required  by  the  subject  to  give  a  word  for  each  in  the  list 

10.  The  following  words  are  good  for  a  qualitative  study  of 
association   and   for   noting   the   factors,   recency,   frequency   and 
mental  "set:"   truth,  school  days,  mother,  picnic,  duty,  childhood, 
Christmas,  teacher,  kite,  garden,  ball,  death,  moonlight  railroad, 
poem,  summer,  lake,  hope.     The  list  may  be  slowly  read  and  the 
subject  given  time  to  note  down  the  train  of  ideas  set  up  by  each 
word.    What  do  you  learn  from  the  experiment? 


THINKING  237 

11.  The  class  can  make  a  study  of  imagination  by  noting  what 
kind  of  images,  whether  of  memory  or  imagination,  are  aroused  by 
such  words  as  the  following :    fountain,  dove,  tree,  woman,  angel, 
fairy,  Caesar,  father,  garden,  thunder,  heaven,  apple,  train,  moun- 
tain. 

12.  An  interesting  study  of  imagination  can  be  made  by  noting 
the  images  aroused  by  ink-blots.    A  set  could  be  mimeographed  for 
class  use.    Whipple  has  prepared  a  standard  set  which  can  be  had 
from  Stoelting  of  Chicago. 

13.  How  can  we  tell  whether  or  not  animals  have  images  or 
ideas? 

14.  Show  in  what  sense  and  to  what  extent  one  may  be  trained 
in  imagination. 

15.  What  differences  are  there  in  the  imagination  of  children 
and  older  people? 

16.  What  should  be  the  attitude  of  the  high  school  toward  im- 
agination? 

17.  Look  at  some  pictures  and  make  an  introspective  study  of 
your  experience.    Make  a  similar  study  of  some  short  poem.     For 
example,  try  The   Village  Blacksmith,  The  Chambered  Nautilus, 
The  Last  Leaf,  parts  of  The  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal. 

18.  Is  imagination  limited  by  experience? 

19.  Is  there  any  relation  between  imagination  and  intelligence? 

20.  The  members  of  the  class  should  make  an  introspective 
study  of  reasoning.    This  can  be  done  by  putting  various  situations 
before  them.     For  example,  in  speaking  of  the  songs  of  the  male 
and  female  birds,  Lowell  says  "He  sings  to  the  wide  world,  She 
sings  to  her  nest ;  In  the  nice  ear  of  nature,  Which  song  is  the 
best?"    Answer.    Is  it  ever  right  to  steal?    Is  a  parent  ever  justi- 
fied in  forsaking  a  child  on  account  of  the  misconduct  of  the  child? 

21.  What  are  abstractions,  and  how  do  they  originate? 

22.  What  is  meant  by  the  statement,  "Teach  a  child  to  think 
for  himself?" 

23.  What  is  meant  by  "originality"  in  thinking? 

24.  Is  it  true  that  many  great  discoveries  are  made  in  science 
by  men  who  have  had  little  experience  or  training  in  the  field  of 
the  discovery? 

25.  Logic  speaks  of  deductive  and  inductive  reasoning.     Show 
that,  from  the  point  of  view  of  this  chapter,  they  are  essentially 
the  same. 

26.  What   characterizes   a   genius   as   to   his   association   and 
reasoning? 

27.  What  can  a  teacher  do  toward  enlarging  the  experience  of 
the  child?    Should  his  efforts  be  limited  to  the  classroom? 

28.  Suppose  a  situation  or  problem  is  presented  to  a  person, 
and  he  cannot  solve  it.    What  is  the  trouble? 


238      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

29.  Give  an  example  of  inadequate  experience  leading  to  a  wrong 
conclusion.    An  example  where  haste  does  the  same. 

30.  Does  mathematics,  or  anything  else,  develop  a  general  reas- 
oning capacity  that  can  function  universally? 

31.  To  what  extent  should  a  child  be  encouraged  to  accept  con- 
clusions not  based  on  his  own  direct  experience? 

32.  How  is  it  possible  for  two  people  to  have  an  argument  and 
fail  to  come  to  an  agreement? 

33.  Do  dogs,  horses,  cats  and  monkeys  think?    Do  they  reason? 

REFERENCES. 

FOR  SYSTEMATIC  TREATMENT: 

E.  B.  Titchener,  Experimental  Psychology  of  the  Thought 
Processes,  1909,  Textbook  of  Psychology,  1910,  on  Association,  p. 
374  ff.,  on  Imagination,  p.  416  ff.,  on  Thought,  p.  505  ff. ;  W.  B. 
Pillsbury,  The  Psychology  of  Reasoning,  1910,  especially  Chs.  I,  II 
and  III,  Essentials  of  Psychology,  1911,  on  Association,  p.  135  ff., 
on  Imagination,  p.  213,  on  Reasoning,  Ch.  IX ;  E.  L.  Thorndike, 
The  Elements  of  Psychology,  1905,  Chs.  XVI  and  XVII ;  J.  R.  An- 
gell,  Psychology,  1908,  on  Imagination,  Ch.  VIII,  on  Reasoning, 
Chs.  X,  XI  and  XII ;  J.  Dewey,  How  We  Think,  1910,  Pt.  1 ;  W. 
James,  Principles  of  Psychology,  1896,  on  Association,  Vol.  II,  Ch. 
XIV,  on  Imagination,  Vol.  II,  Ch.  XVIII,  on  Reasoning,  Vol.  II, 
Ch.  XXI. 

ORIGINAL  STUDIES: 

H.  L.  Brittain,  A  Study  of  Imagination,  Fed.  Sem.,  XIV,  1907,  p% 
137;  W.  H.  Burnham,  Individual  Differences  in  the  Imagination  of 
Children,  Ped.  Sem.,  II,  1893,  p.  204 ;  M.  W.  Calkins,  Association, 
in  Psych.  Rev.,  A/on.  Sup.,  1896,  Vol.  I ;  S.  S.  Colvin  and  E.  J. 
Meyer,  Imaginative  Elements  in  the  Written  Work  of  School  Chil- 
dren, Ped.  Sem.,  XIII,  1906,  p.  82,  The  Development  of  Imagina- 
tion in  Schol  Children,  Psych.  Rev.,  Mon.  Sup.,  Vol.  XI,  1909,  No. 
44 ;  W.  L.  Card,  A  Preliminary  Study  of  the  Psychology  of  Reason- 
ing, American  Journal  of  Psychology,  XVIII,  p.  490;  W.  Libby, 
The  Imagination  of  Adolescents,  American  Journal  of  Psychology, 
Vol.  XIX,  p.  249;  T.  Okabe,  An  Experimental  Study  of  Belief, 
American  Journal  of  Psychology,  Vol.  XXI,  1910,  p.  563;  C.  W. 
Perkey,  An  Experimental  Study  of  Imagination,  American  Journal 
of  Psychology,  Vol.  XXII,  1910,  p.  422;  R.  R.  Rusk,  Experiments 
on  Mental  Association  in  Children,  British  Journal  of  Psychology, 
Vol.  Ill,  1910,  p.  349 ;  R.  S.  Woodworth  and  F.  R.  Wells,  Associa- 
tion Tests,  in  Psych.  Monographs,  No.  57,  1911. 


CHAPTEB  XVI. 
FATIGUE. 

The  nature  of  fatigue. — It  is  difficult  to  give  an 
exact  definition  of  fatigue  because  of  the  complexity 
of  the  phenomena  and  variations  of  the  attending 
circumstances.  Offner*  defines  it  as  a  "condition 
of  our  organism  that  is  developed  by  long  continued 
work,  and  that,  in  addition  to  other  symptoms,  is 
characterised  in  particular  by  a  reduction  in  capacity 
for,  and  pleasure  in,  work."  While  this  definition 
holds  true  in  general,  complicating  conditions  may 
make  action  pleasurable  till  the  organism  is  ex- 
hausted and  enable  the  individual  to  work  at  least 
for  a  short  time  without  showing  any  decrease  in 
efficiency. 

"We  speak  of  fatigue  as  mental  when  there  is  inca- 
pacity for  mental  work,  and  bodily  when  there  is  in- 
capacity for  bodily  work.  The  symptoms  of  fatigue 
for  bodily  work  are,  (1)  acceleration  of  circulation 
and  respiration,  except  that  in  intense  effort  the  re- 
verse may  be  true ;  (2)  an  increase  of  bodily  temper- 
ature, and  (3)  a  reduction  in  capacity  for  work.  As 
fatigue  increases,  and  especially  when  it  becomes  ex- 
cessive, there  is  (4)  a  lowering  of  mental  functioning. 
This  shows  that  physical  work  unfits  us  for  mental 


•Mental  Fatigue,  translated  by  Professor  G.  M.  Whlpple.  An 
admirable  statement  and  discussion  of  the  experimental  work  on 
fatigue.  The  reader  Is  referred  to  it  for  a  fuller  treatment  of  the 
subject. 

[239] 


240      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

work.  ' '  Even  serious  mental  disturbances  have  been 
observed  as  a  consequence  of  bodily  exhaustion." 
(Offner,  p.  9.)  (5)  In  the  final  state  of  fatigue  there 
is  pain  in  the  physical  organ  that  is  being  exercised. 

As  a  consequence  of  the  bodily  activity,  there  is 
produced  in  the  muscles  that  are  exercised  certain 
poisons,  known  as  fatigue  poisons,  such  as  lactic  acid 
and  potassium  phosphate.  If  these  poisons  are  taken 
from  a  fatigued  muscle  and  injected  into  a  fresh 
muscle,  the  phenomena  of  fatigue  appear  in  the  fresh 
muscle.  Mosso*  took  the  blood  from  a  fatigued  dog 
and  injected  it  into  the  veins  of  a  live,  unfatigued 
dog,  and  thereby  produced  fatigue  phenomena  in  the 
live  dog.  Physical  activity,  in  addition  to  producing 
fatigue  substances,  also  causes  the  fat  and  muscle 
substance  to  be  consumed  in  producing  the  muscular 
energy.  This  is  because  dissimilation  proceeds  faster 
than  assimilation.  It  is  possible,  with  short  pauses 
for  rest,  to  keep  the  fatigue  poisons  eliminated,  at 
least  partially,  until  finally  exhaustion,  due  to  the 
consumption  of  the  muscle  substance,  ensues.  The 
replenishing  of  these  consumed  materials  is  accom- 
plished by  nutrition,  rest  and  sleep.  During  rest  and 
sleep  the  fatigue  poisons  are  eliminated  and  the  tis- 
sue is  restored. 

The  effects  or  symptoms  of  mental  fatigue  are: 
(1)  Lowering  of  the  quality  and  then  the  quantity  of 
work.  (2)  Fluctuations  of  the  attention,  shown  in 
the  difficulty  of  pursuing  a  line  of  work.  (3)  Sensi- 
tivity and  discrimination  decrease.  (4)  The  capacity 
of  the  voluntary  muscles  for  work  is  impaired,  just 
as  in  bodily  fatigue  capacity  for  mental  work  is  im- 

*A.  Mosso,  Fatigue,  1904,  p.  119.     (English  translation.) 


FATIGUE  241 

paired.  The  involuntary  muscles  are  also  affected. 
(5)  Respiration  changes,  becoming  first  shallower 
and  faster,  then  deeper,  and  in  excessive  fatigue 
shallower  and  faster  again.  (6)  The  pulse  becomes 
faster  and  the  head  becomes  hot  on  account  of  the 
increased  supply  of  blood  in  the  brain.  The  con- 
scious symptoms  are  disinclination  for  work,  then 
weariness,  then  exhaustion  with  headache.  To 
express  the  fatigue  effects  in  terms  of  ability  or  ca- 
pacity to  learn  one  can  say  that,  as  fatigue  comes  on, 
learning  is  slower  and  more  inaccurate.  The  same 
fatigue  poisons  are  produced  as  in  bodily  fatigue. 
The  measure  of  fatigue. — In  the  first  place,  we 
must  say  that  we  can  not  rely  upon  the  subjective 
symptoms  of  fatigue.  One's  feeling  of  fatigue  is  no 
reliable  indication  that  there  is  fatigue.  It  has  been 
shown  that  fatigue  affects  both  mental  and  physical 
capacity.  There  are  accordingly  two  methods  of 
measuring  the  amount  of  fatigue:  (1)  by  determin- 
ing the  decrease  in  physical  efficiency;  (2)  by  deter- 
mining the  decrease  in  mental  efficiency.  The  first 
is  known  as  the  physiological  method,  which  has  sev- 
eral forms.  The  decrease  in  muscular  force  and  effi- 
ciency may  be  determined  by  the  use  of  the  dynam- 
ometer, or  the  ergograph,  or  by  testing  the  tapping 
rate  of  the  subject, — the  speed  of  tapping  with  the 
finger  on  a  telegraph  key  decreases  with  fatigue. 
Fatigue  may  also  be  determined  by  testing  the  range 
of  accommodation  of  the  eye, — the  range  of  accom- 
modation increases  with  fatigue.  And  still  another 
method  is  by  noting  the  changes  in  circulation  and 
respiration.  These  various  physiological  methods 
have  some  value,  but  are,  on  the  whole,  inadequate. 


242      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

Much  more  reliable  are  those  methods  that  measure 
fatigue  by  determining  the  decrease  in  mental  effi- 
ciency. 

The  psychological  methods. — These  methods  un- 
dertake to  determine  the  amount  of  fatigue,  either  by 
measuring  the  decrease  in  sensitivity  or  sensory  dis- 
crimination, or  by  measuring  the  decrease  in  effi- 
ciency in  performing  some  kind  of  mental  work.  We 
shall  describe  briefly  the  more  important  tests.  (1) 
Esthesiometry.  This  method  evaluates  fatigue  by 
measuring  the  two-point  limen  for  compass  points 
on  the  skin.  In  general,  with  fatigue,  the  two  points 
when  placed  upon  the  skin  simultaneously  and  with 
equal  pressures  are  perceived  as  one  at  a  wider  de- 
gree of  separation  than  when  the  subject  is  not 
fatigued.  This  test  is,  however,  very  difficult  of 
application.  Various  other  methods  of  determining 
sensory  limens  and  discrimination  have  been  used, 
but  none  so  carefully  worked  out  as  the  esthesio- 
metric  method.  (2)  Simple  computation.  Easy  ex- 
amples in  addition  or  multiplication  are  given  to  the 
pupils  for  ten-minute  periods  hourly  through  the 
day.  There  is  found  an  increase  of  speed,  due  to 
practice,  but  an  increase  in  errors  and  corrections 
due  to  fatigue.  In  general,  we  may  say  that  this  tesl 
consists  in  giving  a  series  of  easy  problems  to  be 
worked  out  at  the  highest  rate  of  speed.  Fatigue  is 
indicated  by  an  increase  in  the  amount  of  errors. 
(3)  Memory  method.  This  method  consists  in  deter- 
mining the  immediate  memory  span  for  digits  or 
words.  Fatigue  is  indicated  by  a  decrease  in  the 
immediate  memory  span.  Practice,  however,  is 
likely  to  offset  the  effect  due  to  fatigue.  If  the  prac- 


FATIGUE  243 

tice  effects  be  eliminated,  this  is  a  most  valuable 
method,  for  immediate  memory  span  and  ability  to 
learn  are  closely  associated,  and  are  affected  by  any- 
thing that  affects  the  condition  of  the  body.  By  train- 
ing for  a  week  or  two,  the  immediate  memory  span 
could  be  brought  to  near  its  maximal  efficiency ;  then 
this  test  of  fatigue  could  be  used  with  considerable 
confidence.  (4)  The  completion  method.  This  test 
consists  in  requiring  children  to  fill  out  sentences  in 
which  words  and  syllables  have  been  omitted.  The 
nature  and  number  of  errors  and  corrections  is  an 
index  of  fatigue,  the  quality  of  work  done  being  in- 
versely proportional  to  the  amount  of  fatigue.  The 
difficulty  of  the  method  is  in  finding  an  even  material 
for  successive  tests.  (5)  Cancellation  method.  Pu- 
pils are  required  to  cancel  out  certain  words  or  let- 
ters from  a  page  of  printed  matter,  allowing  a  speci- 
fied time  for  the  work.  It  is  difficult  to  get  material 
that  has  an  even  distribution  of  the  words  or  letters. 
Moreover,  practice  works  here  also  to  offset  fatigue. 
(6)  Copying  method.  The  teacher  writes  on  the 
board  different  combinations  of  the  letters  a,  e,  i,  o, 
u,  r,  v,  n.  The  pupils  are  given  a  certain  time,  say 
five  minutes,  in  which  to  copy  them.  The  number 
of  mistakes  and  corrections  indicates  the  amount  of 
fatigue.  (7)  The  combined  method,  (a)  The  pupils 
are  required  to  count  the  letters  in  each  of  the  first 
five  lines  on  a  page  of  their  school  reader,  (b)  They 
are  required  to  add  or  subtract  several  pairs  of  two- 
place  numbers  written  on  the  blackboard  and  to  write 
the  answers  on  paper,  (c)  The  teacher  recites  six 
one-to-three  syllable  words,  or  four  one-to-two  place 
numbers,  or  the  words  or  numbers  may  be  written 


244      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

upon  the  blackboard  and  immediately  erased.  After 
seeing  or  hearing  them  the  pupils  write  down  as 
many  as  they  can  remember,  (d)  The  pupils  are 
given  sheets  on  which  are  printed  100  words  and  50 
figures  containing  those  used  in  test  (c).  They  are 
required  to  underline  those  that  had  been  given  in 
the  previous  test.  This  tests  recognition,  (a)  and 
(b)  test  attention,  and  (c)  tests  immediate  memory 
span.  (8)  Continuous  work  method.  This  test  con- 
sists in  giving  the  same  form  of  work  for  some  time. 
A  curve  can  then  be  plotted  from  the  data  showing 
the  course  of  efficiency  for  the  whole  period.  A  good 
form  of  the  test  is  the  solution  of  easy  problems  in 
addition  or  multiplication  for  ten-minute  periods, 
with  five-minute  periods  for  rest,  continuing  thus  to 
work  and  rest  for  one  or  two  hours.  Fatigue  is  indi- 
cated by  the  number  of  errors  and  corrections.  The 
speed  may  increase  for  at  least  a  part  of  the  period 
on  account  of  practice.  When  the  actual  school  work 
can  be  treated  quantitatively,  it  may  serve  as  the 
material  for  this  test. 

Some  combination  of  methods  such  as  that  in  (7) 
will  doubtless  be  best  for  the  teacher  to  use  in  deter- 
mining the  course  of  fatigue  throughout  the  day  or 
for  different  school  subjects.  Simple  addition  or 
multiplication,  copying,  cancellation  and  immediate 
memory  tests  would  be  a  good  combination.  What- 
ever the  tests  and  combinations  used,  the  teacher 
must  be  careful  to  watch  for  complicating  circum- 
stances, such  as  the  practice  effects. 

Complicating  phenomena.— Practice  effects.  The 
above  caution  concerning  the  effects  of  practice  leads 
us  to  a  consideration  of  several  phenomena  that  are 


FATIGUE  245 

likely  to  be  associated  with  fatigue.  Practice  always 
works  in  opposition  to  fatigue.  If  a  task  is  per- 
formed at  several  times  during  the  day,  practice  in- 
creases one's  efficiency  in  the  later  periods.  Another 
interesting  phenomenon  is  habituation.  One  has  less 
and  less  fatigue  as  one  becomes  skilful  at  his  work. 
Habituation,  then,  reduces  the  amount  of  fatigue  pro- 
duced by  the  same  performance.  A  somewhat  simi- 
lar phenomenon  is  known  as  warming-up.  One  can 
seldom  do  his  best  work  at  the  very  beginning  of  a 
task.  Efficiency  improves  as  one  comes  into  the 
swing  of  his  work.  This  rapid  initial  increase  of 
efficiency  is  'warming-up/  and  is  evident  in  practi- 
cally all  work.  Another  temporary  variation  is  the 
spurt,  which  may  occur  at  any  time  during  the  progress 
of  a  task,  and  is  especially  likely  to  occur  near  the  end 
of  the  performance.  It  is  due  to  the  release  of  some 
additional  energy  not  available  throughout  the  per- 
formance of  the  task.  As  one  nears  the  end  of  a 
piece  of  work,  for  example,  the  idea  that  the  end  is 
near  serves  as  additional  motive  and  a  consequent 
release  of  energy  results.  This  phenomenon  is  simi- 
lar to  the  effect  of  a  pace-setter  in  a  race.  These  four 
factors  must  always  be  taken  into  account, — habitua- 
tion, practice  effects,  warming-up  and  spurts. 

The  three  phases  of  fatigue.— There  are  usually 
three  stages  of  fatigue:  (1)  In  the  first  stage,  the 
speed  of  work  may  increase,  but  the  quality  de- 
creases. (2)  In  the  second  stage,  the  quantity,  as  well 
as  the  quality,  decreases.  (3)  In  the  third  stage, 
exhaustion  comes  for  some  individuals,  but  in  others 
there  comes  an  increased  excitement  which  enables 
them  to  do  hurried  and  irregular  work,  but  this  is 


246      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

followed  by  exhaustion.  These  three  stages  are  not 
always  found,  however,  for  there  are  individual  vari- 
ations. Four  types  of  workers  have  been  made  out. 
These  types  have  been  named  from  the  form  of  curve 
that  indicates  their  working  efficiency.  The  first  is 
known  as  the  falling  type ;  the  work  curve  of  this  type 
shows  a  steady  decrease  of  speed  and  increase  of 
errors.  The  rising  type  shows  a  steady  decrease  in 
the  number  of  errors.  The  convex  type  shows  an 
initial  decrease  of  errors,  then  a  steady  increase. 
The  concave  type  shows  an  initial  increase,  then  a 
steady  decrease  of  errors.  Then,  in  addition  to  these 
different  types,  there  are  variations  in  fatiguability 
due  to  health  and  to  age.  The  young  are  very  easily 
fatigued,  as  are  also  those  suffering  from  disease  or 
illness,  particularly  from  some  neurotic  disease. 
There  is  a  pretty  steady  increase  in  ability  to  resist 
fatigue  up  to  the  age  of  puberty,  setting  in  a  year  or 
two  earlier  for  girls  than  for  boys.*  It  is  therefore 
argued  that  the  work  of  adolescents  should  be  les- 
sened. And,  since  this  period  starts  in  earlier  for 
girls  than  for  boys,  girls  and  boys  should  not  be  edu- 
cated in  the  same  classes.  For  at  first,  the  boys  are 
able  to  do  more  work,  and  later  on  they  are  more 
easily  fatigued  than  are  the  girls.  This  greater 
fatiguability  at  the  beginning  of  adolescence  or  pre- 
ceding it  is  borne  out  by  the  decreased  resistance  to 
disease.  President  Hall  says:  "From  thirteen  to 
fifteen  great  reduction  of  school  work  for  both  sexes, 
but  chiefly  for  boys,  should  be  insisted  on.  No  one 
should  be  allowed  to  go  to  school  at  all  without  nine 
hours  of  sleep  and  a  hearty  appetite,  for  even  pres- 

Tor  a  discussion  of  this  point,  see  Offner's  Mental  Fatigue,  p.  78. 


FATIGUB  247 

ence  in  school  impairs  nutrition,  arrests  growth, 
starts  neurotic  habits  and  especially  checks  the  de- 
velopment of  the  higher  powers,  which  are  the  last 
to  unfold."* 

Length  of  school  sessions  and  school  periods. — 
How  long  should  a  recitation  period  be?  How  long 
should  a  school  session  be !  These  questions  can  not 
at  present  be  answered  with  certainty.  And,  indeed, 
the  length  of  school  periods  should  never  be  definitely 
and  absolutely  fixed  because  of  the  varying  circum- 
stances which  produce  fatigue.  There  is  no  good 
reason  why  a  lesson  period  or  a  school  session  might 
not  be  shortened  when  the  nature  of  the  work  or 
weather  conditions  are  such  as  to  bring  on  fatigue 
unduly  early.  However,  there  must  be  a  length  of 
period  best  suited,  on  the  average,  for  children  of 
the  various  ages.  But  there  are  not  sufficient  data  at 
present  for  determining  this  average  for  children 
of  the  different  ages  or  grades.  This  is  a  problem 
in  school  hygiene  that  demands  immediate  solution. 
Pending  its  solution  by  careful,  scientific  procedure, 
teachers  can,  by  using  the  tests  above  described,  de- 
termine provisionally  the  best  length  of  lesson  period 
and  of  school  session.  It  seems  safe  to  say,  in  the 
light  of  our  present  knowledge,  that  the  present  ses- 
sions are  too  long,  at  least  for  the  younger  children. 
From  nine  o'clock  till  twelve,  with  fifteen  minutes 
intermission,  is  entirely  too  long  for  children  of  the 
lower  grades,  and  there  should  be  only  a  very  short 
afternoon  session  for  the  younger  children,  or  none 
at  all.  Of  course,  the  proper  length  of  a  school  ses- 
sion depends  much  on  the  nature  of  the  work  done 

*G.  S.  Hall,  Adolescence,  1904,  Vol.  i,  p.  243. 


248      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

and  the  length  and  frequency  of  the  pauses.  Even 
the  proper  length  of  a  recitation  depends  much  on 
the  teacher  and  the  nature  of  the  subject.  The 
teacher  who  is  capable  of  keeping  the  children  work- 
ing at  high  pressure  should  have  shorter  periods  and 
more  frequent  pauses  than  the  teacher  who  gets  work 
only  at  low  pressure.  These  pauses  should  be  spent 
in  rest,  and  it  is  not  rest  to  spend  the  time  at  some 
other  hard  mental  work  or  at  vigorous  athletic  or 
gymnastic  exercise.  If  there  is  any  play  at  rest 
time,  it  should  be  very  light.  Or,  if  children  play  hard 
at  recess  time,  there  should  be  a  short  time  after 
recess  for  rest  before  the  hard  work  of  school  be- 
gins. For  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  fatigue  is 
fatigue,  however  caused.  It  is  also  more  or  less  gen- 
eral, for  the  circulation  scatters  the  fatigue  poisons 
over  the  body,  and  it  is  also  probable  that  the  part  of 
the  body  used  drains  the  other  tissues  of  energy  sup- 
plying substance.  It  is  no  real  rest,  then,  to  turn 
from  one  kind  of  hard  work  to  another,  whether  the 
work  be  mental  or  physical.  It  is  true,  of  course, 
that  one  can  turn  from  one  kind  of  work  to  a  differ- 
ent task  and  do  the  new  work  with  more  efficiency  for 
a  time.  This  is  due  to  the  novelty  of  the  new  work, 
to  interest.  The  old  subject  or  task  becomes  monot- 
onous and  there  is  no  longer  sufficient  motive  to 
bring  about  good  work.  With  the  new  subject  or  task 
there  conies  a  new  motive,  and  one  can  work  at 
higher  pressure,  perhaps,  for  a  short  time,  much  as 
is  the  case  when  one  nears  the  end  of  a  task.  In  the 
latter  case,  and  in  spurts  generally,  there  is  tem- 
porarily additional  energy  released,  making  for  bet- 
ter work  even  without  changing  to  a  new  task.  This 
can  be  true  because  of  a  motive  that  makes  possible 


FATIGUE  249 

the  use  of  additional  energy,  and  in  the  case  of 
change  of  task  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  fatigue  is 
to  some  extent  local,  in  that  it  takes  time  for  it  to 
affect  the  system  generally.  Offner  says,  in  discuss- 
ing the  question  of  special  and  general  fatigue: 
"  Change  of  work  also  brings  about  recuperation 
oftentimes.  If  we  mean  by  this  statement  that,  when 
we  resume  a  task  that  we  have  interrupted  by  some 
other  form  of  activity,  we  then  work  considerably 
better  than  before  the  interruption — that,  to  speak 
more  accurately,  we  enter  upon  the  task  again  with  a 
fresh  supply  of  energy — then  the  statement  is  very 
much  to  be  doubted.  It  can  not  be  supposed  that  in 
our  complicated  psychophysical  organism  an  activity 
of  appreciable  intensity  can  run  its  course  in  anypart 
without  thereby  affecting  the  functions  of  the  other 
portions  of  the  organism,  and  hence  of  the  whole 
organism.  Conversely,  the  less  the  active  part  be 
connected  with  the  remainder  of  the  organism,  the 
more  is  it  possible  to  limit  its  functioning  to  itself, 
the  more  slowly  will  the  fatigue  spread  to  the  other 
parts,  and  the  more  possible  will  it  be  for  the  fatigue 
to  take  on  the  semblance  of  localised  and  isolated 
fatigue.  *  *  *  There  is,  then,  such  a  thing  as 
special  fatigue,  which  we  must  look  upon  as  a  con- 
sumption of  the  constitutive  material  of  the  active 
organ — a  process  that  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case 
is  limited  to  the  organ  in  question — and  as  a  secre- 
tion of  fatigue  substance  that  accumulates  at  first  at 
the  point  where  the  work  is  done.  Nevertheless, 
there  is  no  isolated  fatigue.  The  fatigue  substances 
do  not  remain  where  they  are  secreted,  but  are  car- 


250      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

ried  forth  through  the  whole  body  by  the  ceaseless 
circulation  of  the  blood."*  The  more  specialised  a 
piece  of  work  is,  then,  the  more  slowly  does  fatigue 
become  general.  There  is,  indeed,  local  fatigue,  but 
it  is  only  a  temporary  stage,  and  general  fatigue 
always  ensues  if  the  work  is  continued.  In  fact,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  learning  process  in  acquiring 
some  new  skill,  it  makes  no  difference  how  restricted 
the  performance, — general  fatigue  comes  quickly.  A 
few  years  ago  the  author  had  occasion  to  learn  the 
point  alphabet  of  the  blind.  It  was  a  terrible 
process,  and  he  had  to  rest  every  fifteen  minutes,  and 
was  quite  exhausted  at  the  end  of  an  hour's  work. 
When  children  are  learning  to  draw  and  to  write 
they  doubtless  suffer  even  greater  fatigue. 

The  pedagogy  of  fatigue. — The  question  of  fatigue 
is  of  tremendous  importance  to  education.  If  one  is 
acquiring  a  new  skill,  it  is  high  pressure  work  that 
is  effective.  In  intellectual  work,  in  acquiring  new 
ideas,  in  memory  work,  in  thinking,  it  is  always  at- 
tentive, high-pressure  work  that  counts.  Not  only 
is  this  true  in  an  individual  task,  but  improvement  is 
dependent  upon  work  at  the  top  of  efficiency.  In  an 
experiment  recently  conducted  by  the  author,  two 
girls  improved  in  learning  capacity  for  four  months, 
while  a  third  made  no  improvement  because  she 
worked  at  low  pressure.  The  work  that  counts  most 
is  the  work  that  is  done  under  the  most  favorable 
physical  conditions.  As  far  as  any  improvement  is 
concerned,  drill  work  should  stop  short  of  consider- 
able fatigue,  should  stop  as  soon  as  fatigue  is  notice- 


*M.  Offner,  Mental  Fatigue,  1911,  p.  94  ff. 


FATIGUE  251 

able.  And  as  far  as  economy  of  work  is  concerned, 
there  is  little  use  in  trying  to  learn  after  fatigue  has 
become  considerable.  But,  of  course,  there  are  times 
when  one  must  disregard  economy,  when  one  must 
work  to  the  point  of  exhaustion ;  and  as  children  grow 
older  it  should  be  part  of  their  training  to  carry  on 
work  in  the  face  of  fatigue.  It  should  be  work,  how- 
ever, at  which  they  are  skilful  and  in  which  they 
have  power;  it  should  not  be  in  the  initial  stage  of 
learning  or  of  skill.  Every  adult  who  amounts  to 
anything  must  work  almost  daily  to  the  point  of  ex- 
haustion, and  it  would  be  a  poor  education  that  did 
not  give  training  in  endurance.  The  important  thing 
here  is  that  the  teacher  know  the  conditions  of  work 
and  of  fatigue.  The  children  must  have  time  to  re- 
cover from  fatigue,  rest  pauses  during  the  day  and 
sufficient  sleep  at  night,  with  frequent  vacations.  The 
school  year  should  not  leave  the  child  exhausted.  The 
school  ought  to  be  of  such  a  nature  that  it  would  pro- 
mote the  health  and  growth  of  the  child.  A  properly 
conducted  school  ought  to  leave  the  child  in  as  good 
physical  condition  at  the  end  as  it  was  in  the  begin- 
ning. This  can  not  be  true  if  the  work  is  so  hard 
and  the  rest  and  sleep  so  little  in  amount  that  the 
child  can  not  recover  from  fatigue  day  by  day.  The 
wise  teacher  will  so  distribute  the  work  and  play  and 
rest  as  to  get  the  best  work  out  of  the  pupils  and  at 
the  same  time  maintain  the  best  of  health.  Sleep  is 
a  very  important  factor  in  maintaining  health.  A 
child  seven  to  nine  years  old  should  have  eleven 
hours  sleep,  from  the  age  of  ten  to  thirteen  there 
should  be  ten  hours  of  sleep,  and  at  least  nine  hours 
sleep  for  adolescents. 


252      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOB  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  Should  a  child  be  allowed  to  sleep  till  it  naturally  awakens? 

2.  Is  school  work  done  by  a  child  when  mentally  fatigued  of 
any  value? 

3.  Take  some  poem  that  has  stanzas  of  equal  length  and  try 
committing  to  memory  when  very  much  fatigued.    Commit  to  mem- 
ory  an  equal   amount   under  good  conditions  and  compare  the 
results. 

4.  Similarly  test  your  memory  for  ideas. 

5.  Does  the  reading  of  interesting  fiction  rest  the  mind  after 
fatigue  from  hard  work? 

6.  Can  a  person  who  is  fatigued  from  several  hours  of  mental 
work  play  ball  as  well  as  when  not  so  fatigued?    Test  the  matter. 

7.  Athletes  often  do  poorly  in  school  work.    Is  it  because  they 
use  up  all  their  energy  in  muscular  work  and  have  none  left  for 
mental  work? 

8.  What  do  you  consider  a  proper  distribution  of  mental  and 
physical  work  for  a  university  student?    Make  a  plan  showing  this 
distribution. 

9.  Why  Is  it  that  a  student  should  have  plenty  of  physical 
work  or  play  if  muscular  activity  brings  on  fatigue  that  lessens 
one's  ability  to  do  mental  work? 

10.  Test  out  for  yourself  the  matter  of  general  and  special  fa- 
tigue for  both  mental  work  and  physical  work.     Try  learning  one 
subject  after  being  fatigued  by  another.     Try  doing  one  kind  of 
muscular  work  after  being  fatigued  by  another. 

11.  Do  girls  fatigue  more  easily  than  boys? 

12.  Do  one's  interest  and  cheerfulness  in  his  work  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  fatigue? 

REFERENCES. 

T.  Bolton,  The  Reliability  of  Certain  Methods  for  Measuring  the 
Degree  of  Fatigue  in  School  Children,  in  Psychological  Review, 
Vol.  vii,  136 ;  A.  C.  Ellis  and  Maud  Shipe,  A  Study  of  the  Accuracy 
of  the  Present  Methods  of  Testing  Fatigue,  in  American  Journal 
of  Psychology,  Vol.  xiv,  496;  W.  James,  The  Energies  of  Men,  in 
Philosophical  Review,  Vol.  xvi,  1;  F.  S.  Lee,  The  Nature  of  Fa- 
tigue, in  Popular  Science  Monthly,  Vol.  Ixxvi,  182;  H.  D.  Marsh, 
The  Diurnal  Course  of  Efficiency,  Columbia  University  Disserta- 
tion, New  York,  1906;  A.  Mosso,  Fatigue,  English  Tr.,  New  York, 
1904;  W.  B.  Pillsbury,  Attention  Waves  as  a  Means  of  Measuring 
Fatigue,  in  American  Journal  of  Psychology,  Vol.  xiv,  p.  541 ;  C.  E. 
Seashore  and  G.  H.  Kent,  Periodicity  and  Progressive  Change  in 
Continuous  Mental  Work,  Psych.  Rev.,  Mon.  Sup.,  Vol.  vi,  No.  28, 
1905 ;  W.  S.  Christopher,  Chicago  Public  School  Report  on  Child- 
Study  Investigation,  1898-99,  p.  38;  F.  W.  Smedley,  Report  of 
Child-Study  and  Pedagogic  Investigation,  Chicago  Public  Schools, 
No.  2,  1899-1900,  p.  64  ff . ;  E.  L.  Tberndike,  Mental  Fatigue,  la 


FATIGUE  253 

Psych.  Rev.,  Vol.  vii,  466 ;  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  Vol. 
ii,  61;  F.  L.  Wells,  Normal  Performance  in  the  Tapping  Test  Be- 
fore and  During  Practice,  with  Special  Reference  to  Fatigue,  in 
American  Journal  of  Psychology,  Vol.  xix,  437 ;  J.  H.  Wimms,  The 
Relative  Effects  of  Fatigue  and  Practice  Produced  6y  Different 
Kinds  of  Mental  Work,  in  British  Journal  of  Psychology,  Vol.  ii, 
153;  W.  H.  Winch,  Some  Measurements  of  Mental  Fatigue  in 
Adolescent  Pupils  in  Evening  Schools,  in  Journal  of  Educational 
Psychology,  Vol.  I,  13;  W.  R.  Wright,  Some  Effects  of  Incentives 
on  Work  and  Fatigue,  in  Psych.  Rev.,  Vol.  xiii,  23;  C.  S.  Toakum, 
An  Experimental  Study  of  Fatigue,  Psych.  Rev.,  Mon.  Sup.,  No. 
46,  1909. 

For  extensive  bibliography  see  Whipple's  translation  of  Offner's 
Fatigue,  p.  122  and  p.  128. 


CHAPTEB   XVII. 
TESTS  AND  NORMS. 

Before  we  can  deal  intelligently  with  children  we 
must  have  accurate  information  concerning  their 
mental  and  physical  natures.  In  this  country,  in  the 
last  few  years,  much  progress  has  been  made  in  the 
direction  of  medical  inspection,  although  very  little 
has  been  done  in  the  way  of  mental  and  physical 
tests.  And  even  what  has  been  done  in  medical  in- 
spection has  not  borne  proper  fruit,  because,  in  most 
cases,  notifying  the  parents  of  the  conditions  found 
and  the  publication  of  the  statistical  results  was  all 
that  came  of  the  inspection.  Now,  what  is  needed  is 
something  like  the  following:  When  a  child  enters 
school  for  the  first  time,  accurate  information  should 
be  obtained  concerning  its  home  and  parents,  accu- 
rate physical  measurements  and  tests  should  be 
made,  including  a  careful  medical  examination,  and 
there  should  be  such  mental  tests  as  it  is  possible  to 
give.  The  data  obtained  should  be  recorded.  The 
different  forms  of  examination  and  tests  should  be 
repeated  every  six  months  during  the  school  life  of 
the  child,  and  all  the  data  recorded  and  as  carefully 
kept  as  are  the  records  at  the  court  house.  The  medi- 
cal data  should  be  obtained  by  a  school  physician, 
the  mental  and  physical  data  can  be  obtained  by  the 

[264] 


TESTS   AND   NOBMS  255 

teachers,  but  the  tests  ought  to  be  under  the  direction 
of  a  psychological  expert. 

For  this  work  to  be  most  valuable  the  tests  given 
should  be  uniform  throughout  the  country,  and 
should  be  kept  in  similar  form,  so  that  when  a  child 
moves  from  one  school  district  to  another  his  record 
could  be  mailed  to  his  new  superintendent  and  would 
be  perfectly  intelligible.  To  make  this  possible  there 
ought  to  be  a  national  commission  or  committee  to 
prepare  the  various  mental  tests  from  year  to  year 
and  prescribe  the  methods  of  giving  them  and  of 
keeping  the  data.  Such  data  carefully  obtained  and 
recorded  would  be  of  inestimable  value  to  the  teach- 
ers of  our  schools  in  the  actual  teaching,  and  would 
at  the  same  time  be  of  great  worth  to  the  science  of 
education.  In  the  meantime  the  author  suggests  the 
following  tests  and  forms  of  record.  The  records 
could  be  kept  on  heavy  paper,  8  in.  by  11  in.  The 
mental,  physical  and  school  records  could  have  26 
columns  from  top  to  bottom,  allowing  for  24  semi- 
annual examinations  and  two  extra  spaces.  The 
medical  record  sheet  should  have  13  spaces  from  top 
to  bottom  and  be  ruled  also  on  the  back.  Then  there 
should  be  one  sheet  for  the  entrance  record.  This 
plan  would  require  five  sheets  for  a  child's  complete 
record  throughout  its  school  life.  The  leaves  could 
have  perforations  and  be  kept  in  the  form  of  a  loose- 
leaf  note  book,  or  they  could  be  kept  on  the  order  of 
a  card  catalogue.  The  reverse  sides  of  the  mental 
and  physical  record  sheets  should  be  used  for  record- 
ing additional  data  not  properly  covered  by  the  for- 


256      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

mal  headings.  The  reverse  of  the  school  record  sheet 
should  contain  the  names  of  all  the  child's  teachers, 
with  the  dates  when  they  had  char'ge  of  the  pupil. 

Now,  as  to  the  data  and  methods  of  getting  it :  The 
headings  of  the  medical  record  are  self-explanatory. 
The  mental  and  physical  tests  should  be  performed, 
on  the  whole,  as  prescribed  in  G.  M.  Whipple's  Man- 
ual of  Mental  and  Physical  Tests.  The  Grip  should 
be  determined  by  the  use  of  a  Smedley  dynamometer. 
The  Tapping  rate  should  be  indicated  by  the  number 
of  taps  in  30  seconds,  determined  by  the  use  of  a  tap- 
ping instrument  and  described  in  Whipple's  Man- 
ual, p.  100.  The  Lung  capacity  (also  termed  vital 
capacity)  should  be  determined  by  the  use  of  a  wet 
spirometer.  The  height  should  be  determined  by  the 
use  of  a  stadiometer,  the  weight  by  the  use  of  accu- 
rate scales.  The  visual  acuity  can  be  determined  by 
the  teacher  by  the  use  of  Test  type,  and  should  be 
recorded  in  the  ordinary  form  used  by  oculists, — to 
illustrate:  If  a  child  reads  at  20  feet  distance  the 
letters  that  a  normal  eye  can  read  at  40  feet  distance, 
the  visual  acuity  should  be  recorded  as  20/40.  The 
auditory  acuity  may  be  determined  by  the  watch  test 
and  could  be  recorded  in  similar  form.  To  illustrate : 
Take  the  average  of  the  class  as  the  denominator  of 
the  fraction  and  the  actual  distance  at  which  the 
child  can  just  hear  the  watch  tick  as  the  numerator. 
But  the  best  way  to  test  hearing  is  by  the  use  of  a 
Pilling-McCallie  audiometer. 

The  best  form  of  mental  tests  must  be  worked  out 
by  extensive  experiments  with  school  children  as  well 


TESTS   AXD   NORMS  257 

as  with  adults.  A  good  test  is  one  that  is  simple, 
easily  given  and  easily  graded,  and  that  gives  a  high 
correlation  with  other  tests.  After  giving  various 
tests  to  several  thousand-school  children  and  to  a  small 
number  of  adults,  I  recommend,  provisionally,  the 
f ollowings  tests  and  procedure  as  fulfilling  the  above 
requirements:  For  attention,  the  ''A"  test  as  de- 
scribed in  Whipple's  Manual,  p.  254.  The  time  al- 
lowed for  the  test  was  one  minute.  Whipple's  for- 
mula for  determining  efficiency  was  used  and  the  re- 
sult divided  by  eight,  to  reduce  the  grade  to  about 
the  same  scale  of  the  other  grades,  as  shown  in  the 
accompanying  table.  For  association  should  be  used 
Whipple's  test  for  uncontrolled  association  and  the 
three  controlled  association  tests,  namely,  the  part- 
whole,  the  genus-species  and  the  opposites  test. 
These  tests  are  described  in  Whipple's  Manual  under 
tests  33  and  34.  The  time  allowed  for  the  uncon- 
trolled association  test  was  3  minutes,  for  the  genus- 
species  test,  45  seconds,  for  the  part-whole  test,  30 
seconds,  and  for  the  opposites  test,  90  seconds.  The 
grade  recorded  in  the  table  for  association  is  the  sum 
of  the  four  results  of  these  separate  tests.  For  rote 
memory,  the  words  given  on  p.  204  in  this  book  can 
be  used.  In  grading,  allow  one  point  for  each  word 
and  one  point  for  its  correct  position.  Add  up  the 
points  for  both  abstract  and  concrete  memory  and 
divide  by  2,  to  obtain  the  grades  as  recorded  in  the 
table.  For  logical  memory,  Whipple's  Marble  Statue 
test  may  be  used, — described  in  the  Manual,  p.  397. 
One  point  is  allowed  for  each  idea  correctly  reported 


258      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

by  the  child.  The  sum  of  these  points  gives  the  grade 
as  recorded  in  the  table.  Of  course,  this  test  cannot 
be  used  a  second  time  with  the  same  pupils.  This  is 
true  for  most  of  the  mental  tests,  and  they  will,  there- 
fore, have  to  be  replaced  from  year  to  year.  For 
imagination,  the  ink-blot  test,  Whipple's  Manual,  p. 
430,  may  be  used.  The  children  are  allowed  one  min- 
ute to  write  the  things  that  are  suggested  by  each 
ink-blot.  The  grade  recorded  in  the  table  is  the  total 
of  all  the  objects  suggested  by  the  blots.  This  test 
is  better  as  a  qualitative  study  of  imagination  than 
it  is  as  a  quantitative  determination  of  imaginative 
capacity.  Since  the  test  was  not  given  to  many  sub- 
jects, the  grades  of  boys  and  girls  are  combined.  A 
somewhat  different  test  of  imagination,  especially 
of  what  is  known  as  constructive  imagination,  is  the 
word-building  test,  described  by  AVhipple  in  the  Man- 
ual, p.  441,  and  recorded  in  our  table  as  invention. 
In  the  latter  test  we  used  both  lists  of  letters,  a,  e,  o, 
b,  m,  t  and  e,  a,  i,  r,  1,  p.  Five  minutes  were  allowed 
for  each  list,  and  the  grade  given  in  the  table  is  the 
sum  of  the  words  written  in  the  two  tests.  For 
learning,  Whipple's  two  substitution  tests,  A  and  B, 
are  used.  The  method  of  giving  the  tests,  however, 
was  not  that  described  by  Whipple,  but  modified  as 
follows:  The  pupils  were  given  test  form  A  and 
allowed  eight1  minutes  to  fill  in  the  blanks.  At  an- 
other time  they  were  given  test  form  B  and  allowed 
eight  minutes  to  fill  in  the  blanks.  In  grading  the 
work,  one  point  was  allowed  for  each  blank  correctly 

'This  time  has  proved  too  long  for  the  older  pupils,  10  minutes 
for  the  younger  and  5  for  the  older  pupils  would  be  better.  The 
number  of  characters  per  minute  might  be  taken  as  the  grade. 


TESTS   AND   NOKMS 


259 


filled  in.  Add  together  the  grades  for  the  two  tests 
and  divide  by  2  to  get  the  results  recorded  in  the 
table.  This  is  one  of  the  best  of  all  the  tests,  easily 
given,  easily  graded,  and  it  is  a  good  criterion  of  a 
pupil's  ability.  The  school  records  should  be  re- 
corded in  the  form  of  rank,  the  one  making  the  high- 
est record  being  ranked  1,  the  next  highest  2,  and  so 
on.  Or  better  still  would  be  to  take  the  actual  grade 
of  the  pupil  and  transfer  it  to  a  basis  of  an  average 
of  50.  This  can  be  done  by  dividing  50  by  the  actual 
average  of  the  class  and  then  multiplying  by  the 
actual  number  of  units  accomplished  by  the  pupil 
tested.  This  method  really  combines  in  one  number 
both  grade  and  rank.*  In  the  mental  tests  the  actual 
standing  of  the  pupil  can  be  recorded  and  compared 
with  the  table  (pp.  260-261). 

*See  A.  P.  Weiss,  On  Methods  of  Mental  Measurement,  Especially 
in  School  and  College,  in  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  Vol. 
II,  p.  555. 


50 


40 


30 


Mental  Lfficiency  of  Bojs  and  Girls 
by  ages 


6  9  10 


12  13  14  15  16  17  IS 


260      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 


NORMS   OP  MENTAL  CAPACITY. 
Boys. 


Age 8                 9               10  11 

Tests :  No.    Av.  No.    Av.  No.  Av.  No.  Av. 

Learning  9  27.0  35  27.0  30  27.5  40  34.6 

Logical  memory 61  23.9  75  31.0  92  31.0  103  33.2 

Rote  memory 6  29.0  30  37.9  30  52.5  50  47.5 

Attention,  A  test 20  23.3  10  24.4  28  31.6 

Association  10  25.6  37  31.6  31  38.4  37  42.1 

Imagination  ink-blots 2  23.5  20  46.6  25  40.5  45  43.5 

Invention   17  17.5  11  17.5  19  19.7 

Total  mental  efficiency 25.8  30.7  33.1  36.0 

GirU. 

Age 8                 9                10  11 

Tests :  No.    Av.  No.    Av.  No.  Av.  No.  Av. 

Learning  29  20.0  54  31.5  30  31.3  49  38.2 

Logical  memory 46  26.7  86  31.8  87  34.3  115  35.6 

Rote  memory 16  29.0  38  37.0  37  42.0  67  39.5 

Attention,  A  test 18  16.0  24  28.0  21  30.0  26  38.0 

Association  28  27.6  50  35.7  35  38.7  46  48.5 

Imagination  ink-blots 2  23.5  20  46.6  25  40.5  45  43.5 

Invention  17  17.5  11  17.5  19  19.7 

Total  mental  efficiency 28.2  32.6  33.5  37.6 


TESTS   AND   NOBMS  261 


NORMS  OF  MENTAL  CAPACITY. 

t>  •  •' . 
Boys. 


12       13  14      15  16  17  18  Gen. 

No.  Av.  No.  Av.  No.  Av.  No.  Av.  No.  Av.  No.  Av.  No.  Av.  Av. 

27  39.3  33  39.5  46  46.1  10  46.0  5  47.2  16  49.0  8  48.0  39.2 

109  36.5  111  38.5  94  37.5  63  37.4  42  36.6  35  37.1  19  40.7  34.8 

56  40.0  56  42.5  55  43.5  35  44.2  36  47.2  29  49.5  11  54.0  44.3 

13  39.0  21  39.0  19  51.1  11  55.0  10  64.1  9  62.0  4  70.5  46.0 

21  46.4  48  47.2  32  52.3  12  55.8  17  54.8  16  68.1  8  72.7  48.6 

21  43.8  39  62.0  12  31.5  12  31.5  12  34.2  14  33.3  11  31.0  38.3 

16  23.1  14  25.8  21  22.2  18  24.0  16  33.6  21  34.5  11  35.8  25.3 

38.3  42.1  40.6  42.0  45.4  47.6  50.4  39.5 
Girls. 

12       13  14      15  16      17  18  Gen. 

No.  Av.  No.  Av.  No.  Av.  No.  Av.  No.  Av.  No.  Av.  No.  Av.  Av. 

41  44.2  41  46.2  42  48.0  23  46.3  2  50.0  16  46.3  9  48.7  40.9 

134  38.0  117  40.1  107  40.2  77  41.0  70  39.7  58  39.4  25  42.1  37.2 

64  41.0  59  43.0  78  44.5  49  46.7  63  46.8  51  51.5  20  52.7  43.1 

20  45.2  16  51.3  23  55.7  13  68.0  13  70.2  16  62.3  8  64.9  51.3 
39  52.6  38  49.6  38  58.3  18  63.3  23  65.6  32  70.9  16  74.3  53.2 

21  43.8  39  62.0  12  31.5  12  31.5  12  34.2  14  33.3  11  31.0  38.3 
16  23.1  14  25.8  21  22.2  18  24.0  16  33.6  21  34.5  11  35.8  25.3 

41.1  45.4  42.9  45.8  48.6  48.3  49.9  41.3 


262      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 


ENTRANCE  RECORD. 

The  record  on  this  page  is  to  be  filled  out  when  the  child  first 
enters  school,  and  should  be  made  as  complete  and  accurate  as 
possible.  Besides  the  information  called  for,  any  other  facts  may 
be  added.  And  later  such  facts  should  be  added  as  the  death  of  a 
parent,  removal  from  one  city  to  another,  etc.  And  the  date  when 
the  child  has  the  various  children's  diseases  should  be  entered  here, 
together  with  the  permanent  effects  of  such  diseases. 

Date  of  birth :   Yr Mo Day 

Name  in  full 

Place  in  family (1st,  2nd,  3rd,  etc.). 

Father's  name Year  of  his  birth 

Place  of  his  birth Occupation Health 

Mother's  name Year  of  birth 

Place  of  birth Number  of  children 


TESTS   AND   NORMS 


263 


MEDICAL   RECORD. 

Date  of  birth :   Tr Mo Day 

Name  in  full 

Vaccination  record  (state  whether  successful) 

If  the  child  has  a  disease  between  the  regular  times  for  school 
inspection,  the  disease,  with  the  date,  should  be  recorded. 


* 

Q 

General 
constitution. 

Diseases  of 
chest  and 
abdomen. 

Diseases  of 
spine  and 
extremities. 

Eye  diseases 
and  dioptrical 
defects. 

Ear  diseases. 

Diseases  of 
mouth  and 
tnroat  and 
speech  defects. 

Skin  diseases. 

Neurotic 
diseases. 

Other 
diseases. 

264      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 


PHYSICAL   RECORD. 


Name  in 

full  

8 
a 

Height,  Cm. 

d 

a 
"3 

B 

Grip. 

Tapping 
rate. 

Visual 
acuity. 

Au 
ac 

Jltorj 
ulty. 

J 

Standlnf 

n 

a 

3 

OS 

J 

*l 

J 

«J 

i 

J 

TESTS   AND   NORMS 


265 


MENTAL   RECORD. 

Date  of  birth :    Yr Mo.. . Day 

Name  in  full 

Record  standing  by  rank,  disposition  by  a  word. 


s 

Q 

Attention. 

Invention. 

Association. 

Learning 
capacity. 

Rote 
memory. 

Logical 
memory. 

Imagination. 

Disposition  or 
temperament. 

266      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

SCHOOL   RECORD. 

(Standing  in  Branches  Studied.) 

Date  of  birth :   Tr Mo Day 

Name  in  full 

The  names  of  the  various  school  branches  are  to  be  filled  in  in 
ink  and  the  pupil's  standing  recorded  in  the  form  of  rank  in  class, 
1  representing  first  in  class ;  2,  second  In  class,  and  so  on ;  deport- 
ment as  excellent,  good,  medium,  bad,  very  bad. 


TESTS   AND   NORMS 


267 


NOBMS  OF  STANDING  AND  SITTING  HEIGHT,  IN  CM.  (SMEDLEY). 

Standing  Height  Sitting  Height. 

Age.                                       Boys.  Girls.          Boys.  Girls. 

6.0  110.69  109.66          62.40  61.72 

6.5  113.25  112.51          63.54  62.90 

7.0   115.82  115.37          64.67  64.07 

7.5 118.39  118.22          65.78  65.25 

8.0   120.93  120.49          66.75  66.34 

8.5  123.48  122.75          67.72  67.43 

9.0  126.14  125.24          68.79  68.32 

9.5   128.80  127.74          69.85  69.21 

10.0 130.91  130.07          70.56  70.05 

10.5  133.03  132.41          71.26  70.89 

11.0  135.11  135.35          72.10  72.23 

11.5  137.19  138.30          72.93  73.58 

12.0  139.54  141.31           73.80  74.93 

12.5   141.89  144.32          74.70  76.29 

13.0  145.54  147.68          76.24  77.91 

13.5   149.09  151.04          77.79  79.54 

14.0   151.92  153.64          79.21  80.99 

14.5  154.74  156.24          80.64  82.43 

15.0  158.07  156.83          82.18  83.21 

15.5   161.41  157.42          83.68  83.99 

16.0  164.03  158.30          85.43  84.54 

16.5  166.65  159.18          87.17  85.09 

17.0  167.85  159.26          88.16  85.20 

17.5 169.04  159.34          89.14  85.30 

18.0  171.23  159.42          90.30  85.51 

18.5  173.41  159.50          91.46  85.72 

NORMS  OP  WEIGHT,  IN  KG.,  WITH  CLOTHING  (SMEDLKT). 

Age.                Boys.         Girls.          Age.  Boys.  Girls. 

6 19.738        18.870            13 38.084  38.974 

7 21.613        20.974             14 42.696  44.219 

8 23.817        23.010             15 47.993  48.161 

9 26.336        25.257             16 53.238  50.652 

10 28.707        27.795             17 57.384  52.386 

11 31.223        30.662            18 61.283  52.923 

12 34.151        34.373 


268      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 


NOB  MS  OF  LUNG  (VITAL)  CAPACITY  (SMKDLET). 


Age. 
6  

Boys. 
....  1023 

7  

1168 

8  

1316 

9  

1469 

10  

....  1603 

11  

1732 

12.. 

.  1883 

Girls. 
950 
1061 
1165 
1286 
1409 
1526 
1664 


Age. 
13.. 
14.. 
15.. 
16.. 
17.. 
18.. 


Boys. 
2108 
2395 
2697 
3120 
3483 
3655 


Girls. 
1827 
2014 
2168 
2266 
2319 
2343 


NORMS  OF  STRENGTH  OF  GRIP,  IN  KG.   (S  MED  LEY). 


Age. 

6 9.21 

7 10.74 

8 12.41 

9 14.34 

10 16.52 

11 18.85 

12 21.24 

13 24.44 

14 28.42 

15 33.39 

16 39.37 

17 44.74 

18..                                .  49.28 


, Boys. v 

Rt  hand.  L.  band. 
8.48 
10.11 
11.67 
13.47 
15.59 
17.72 
19.71 
22.51 
26.22 
30.88 
36.39 
40.96 
45.01 


Rt.  hand.  L.  hand. 

8.36 

9.88 
11.16 
12.77 
14.65 
16.54 
18.92 
21.84 
24.79 
27.00 
28.70 
29.56 


29.75 


7.74 
9.24 
10.48 
11.97 
13.72 
15.52 
17.78 
20.39 
22.92 
24.92 
26.56 
27.43 
27.66 


NORMS  OF  TAPPING  RATE  (SMEDLEY). 


Age. 

8.. 

9.. 
10.. 
11.. 
12.. 
13.. 
14.. 
15.. 
16.. 
17.. 
18.. 


No.     , Boys. > 

tested.  Rt.  hand.  L.  hand. 


31 
60 
47 
49 
44 
50 
40 
37 
21 
13 
3 


147 
151 
161 
169 
170 
184 
184 
191 
196 
196 
197 


117 
127 
132 
141 
145 
156 
155 
169 
170 
174 
183 


No. 
tested. 
31 
44 
48 
48 
50 
45 
67 
48 
50 
40 
24 


Slrls.- 
Rt.  hand.  L.  hand. 


146 
149 
157 
169 
169 
178 
181 
181 
188 
184 
193 


117 
118 
129 
139 
140 
153 
157 
159 
167 
162 
169 


The  records  In  the  above  table  represents  the  number  of  taps  In 
30  seconds.  The  number  tested,  however,  la  so  small  that  the  table 
is  not  very  reliable. 


APPENDIX. 
THE  DEVEW>PMENT  OF  THE  INSTINCTS. 

If  we  could  make  out  a  table  showing  the  orderly  appearance  of 
the  instincts  and  the  periods  of  their  dominance,  we  could  then 
arrange  the  curriculum  of  the  schools  to  correspond  to  the  in- 
stinctive activities.  But  the  matter  is  not  simple.  The  time  of 
first  appearance  of  the  various  instincts  varies  much  according  to 
the  reported  observations,  and  their  periods  of  dominance  vary  still 
more.  The  appearance  of  an  instinctive  action,  even  after  the 
structures  are  ready  for  it,  depends  upon  the  appearance  of  the 
situation  that  normally  calls  forth  the  particular  form  of  response. 
There  is  a  variation  of  a  year  or  two  in  the  maturing  of  the  struc- 
tures that  underlie  the  instincts.  And  even  after  the  first  appear- 
ance of  an  instinct  the  future  course  is  entirely  dependent  upon 
experience.  An  instinctive  tendency  may  be  early  subdued,  or  it 
may  be  strengthened  and  perpetuated.  The  nearest  we  can  come 
to  a  solution  of  the  problem  Is  to  determine  by  statistical  studies 
the  time  when,  on  the  average,  an  instinctive  tendency  is  at  its 
height,  and  in  some  cases  this  may  be  sufficiently  definite  to  be  of 
value  to  education.  But  only  in  a  broad  way  can  the  instincts 
determine  the  order  of  the  curriculum.  The  individual,  adaptive 
and  environmental  instinctive  tendencies  are  all  operative  when 
the  child  enters  school,  and  can  be  depended  upon  to  furnish  motive 
and  initiative.  The  social  tendencies  are  also  operative  and  grow 
in  strength  steadily  till  maturity.  The  fact  is  that  other  factors 
are  more  important  in  determining  the  arrangement  of  the  curricu- 
lum. As  far  as  his  instincts  are  concerned,  we  may  teach  a  six 
year  old  boy  about  stars,  bugs,  flowers,  weeds,  stones,  rivers  and 
mountains,  and  wise  teaching  doubtless  teaches  something  about 
all  these  things  from  the  beginning.  Since  the  appearance  is  vari- 
able, and  since  the  strength  of  instinctive  tendencies  is  dependent 
upon  experience,  and  therefore  varies  immensely  for  different  indi- 
viduals, the  teacher  will  have  to  ascertain  for  each  individual  case 
what  instinctive  tendencies  will  function  best  to  furnish  initiative 
and  motive.  At  any  rate,  the  instincts  will  have  to  be  taken  into 
the  laboratory  and  worked  out  with  a  great  deal  more  care  than 
has  ever  been  used  in  their  study  before  we  can  do  anything  more 
than  indicated.  However,  it  may  be  worth  while  to  give  in  brief 
form  the  results  of  various  studies  of  instincts  and  the  emotive 
instinctive  responses : 

Imitation. — First  appearance,  59th  day  (reflex),  171st  day  (vol- 
untary), Dearborn;  in  2nd  half  of  first  year,  Kirkpa trick ;  6th  or 
7th  month,  Baldwin;  15th  week,  Preyer;  237th  day,  Major;  4th 
month,  Sully.  Most  prominent  4th  to  7th  year,  Kirkpatrick. 

Play. — In  the  second  quarter  of  first  year,  Kirkpatrick,  Major, 
Shinn ;  341st  day,  Dearborn.  Normally,  always  operative  later. 

Migrating. — 1st  to  3rd  or  4th  year,  Kline ;  2nd  or  3rd  year,  Kirk- 

[269] 


270      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

Patrick ;  must  be  subdued  by  early  adolescence  or  may  become  per- 
manent tendency. 

Collecting. — Not  later  than  the  3rd  year,  Burk ;  in  the  2nd  year, 
Kirkpatrick.  At  its  height  at  10,  Burk. 

Construction. — Appears,  9th  month,  Sully;  13th  month,  Tiede- 
mann;  14th  month,  Major.  Interest  in  construction  is  prominent 
throughout  school  life,  normally. 

Rivalry. — According  to  Kirkpatrick,  appears  in  the  4th  or  5th 
year.  It  may  be  relied  upon  to  function  throughout  child-life. 

Sympathy. — 7th  and  8th  month,  Tracy ;  12th  month,  Sully ;  22nd 
month,  Baldwin ;  27th  month,  Major ;  3rd  year,  Kirkpatrick.  Later 
responses  are  largely  due  to  experience  and  training. 

Pride. — 19th  month,  Preyer. 

Fear. — First  appears,  2nd  month,  Tracy  and  Shinn ;  3rd  month, 
Major ;  4th  month,  Dearborn  and  Preyer ;  7th  month,  Sully ;  1st 
year,  Kirkpatrick.  Fear  is  greatest  in  3rd  and  4th  years,  accord- 
ing to  Kirkpatrick. 

Anger. — In  young  babies,  Kirkpatrick ;  10th  month,  Darwin  and 
Preyer;  2nd  month,  Perez. 

Curiosity. — 22d  week,  Preyer.  Under  proper  conditions,  curiosity 
functions  throughout  school  life. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  that  all  the  important  instinctive 
tendencies,  except  the  socialistic,  function  normally  throughout  the 
school  life  of  the  child.  The  strength  of  these  tendencies  depends 
upon  the  demands  made  upon  them  in  the  experience  of  the  child. 
The  older  and  more  fundamental  to  the  life  of  man  the  tendency, 
the  more  independent  it  is  of  experience. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Achilles,  54. 
Active  attention,  208. 
Acquired     characters     not    In- 
herited, 29. 

Activity  in  education,  16. 
Addams,  Jane,  64. 
Adolescent  play,  101. 
Advisor  of  clubs,  65. 
Aeneid,  54. 
Aim  of  Education,  2. 
Aim  of  moral  training,  166. 
Affection,  pleasant  in  habits,  130. 
American  Indian,  Migrations  of, 

76. 

Ancient  languages,  159. 
Anger,  55. 
Appleton,  L.  E.,  97. 
Art,  225. 

Association  of  ideas,  221. 
Association,     determinants     of, 

223. 

Associations  and  memory,  192. 
Atavism,  28. 
ATTENTION,  206. 
Attention, 

function  of,  211. 

and  fatigue,  240. 

less  with  habituation,  129. 

meaning  of,  206. 

and  symbols,  218. 
Attitude  in  habit,  142. 
Automatisms,  breaking  of,  157. 

Biological  results  of  habitua- 
tion, 126. 

Biology,  background  of  psy- 
chology, 13. 

Birds,  migrations  of,  75. 

Body  and  mind,  17. 

Brain,  function  of,  92. 

Bright  child  active,  93. 

Bryan,  harangue  vs.,  54. 

Cancellation  method.  243. 
Capacity  for  work,  240. 
Cayuga  lake,  49. 

Childhood  and  habituation,  141. 
Child,  impregnable,  44. 
Children's  troubles,  62. 
Chums,  63. 


Clubs,  bad  effects  of,  64. 
benefits  of,  64. 
and  collecting  instinct,  85. 

Co-efficient  of  learning,  202. 

COLLECTING   INSTINCT,   83. 

Collecting  instinct, 
development  of,  83. 
use  in  school,  84. 

Collections,  84. 

Combined  method  in  determin- 
ing fatigue,  243. 

Competition,  57. 

Completion  method  in  determin- 
ing fatigue,  243. 

Computation   method  in  deter- 
mining fatigue,  242. 

Committing  to  memory,  193. 

Conditions  of  drill,  151. 

Consciousness,  18. 

Consistency  with  children,  153. 

Continuous  work  method  in  de- 
termining fatigue,  244. 

Contrary  suggestion,  118. 

Copying  method  in  determining 
fatigue,  243. 

Country  school,  86. 

Cramming,  195. 

Darwin,  Charles,  15,  126. 
Defectives,  should  be  removed 

from  school,  118. 
Determine  the  child's  world,  10. 
Development,  16. 
Discussions,    futile   in    morals, 

165. 

Disease  not  inherited,  29. 
Dressing  and  feeding  of  child, 

141. 

Drill,  149. 

Drills,  should  be  short,  142. 
Dynamic  view  of  world,  14. 
Education  as  adjustment,  9. 
Education  not  scientific,  2. 
Educational  process,  5. 
Educational  psychologist,  8. 
Educational  psychology,  7. 
Emotions  and  morals,  178. 
Endurance  due  to  habituation, 

129. 


[273] 


274      THE  OUTLINES  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 


ENVIRONMENTAL 

INSTINCTS,  74. 
Esthesiometry,  242. 
Eugenics,  31. 
Evolution  of  body,  13. 
Evolution  and  education,  15. 
Evolution  of  mind,  15. 
Exceptions,  in  habit-formation, 

152. 

Excess  energy  theory  of  play,  96. 
Experience,  222. 
Expression,  10. 
Extra  digits,  28. 
Family    fireside,    must    be   re- 
vived, 69. 

Farming,  scientific,  1. 
FATIGUE,  239. 

Fatigue,  less  with  habltuation, 
128, 131. 
nature  of,  239. 
pedagogy  of,  250. 
poisons,  240. 
symptoms  of,  240. 
Fatiguability,  types  of,  246. 
Fear,  50. 

expression  of,  52. 
objects  of,  51. 
Fighting  instinct,  54. 
Fighting  among  boys,  56. 
Fighting,  agreements  as  to,  56. 
Fixity  in  morals,  181. 
Forbush,  64. 
Fraternities,  69. 
Function  of  teacher,  146,  199. 
Galton's  law,  27. 
Gang  instinct,  61. 
Gangs  and  clubs,  64. 
Gangs,  why  formed,  66. 
General  culture.  160. 
George  Junior  Republic,  70. 
Germ-plasm  theory,  26. 
Girls  and  memory,  187. 
Gregariousness,  61. 
Gravity,  center  of,  in  education, 
174. 

HABIT,  124. 

Habit,  and  attitude,  142. 

and  education,  131,  146. 

ethics  of,  134. 

function  of.  126. 

nature  of,  124 

flywheel  of  society,  135. 


Habit-formation,  laws  of,  136. 
Habit-forming,  rules  for,  154. 
Habituation  and  fatigue,  245. 
Habituation  a  growth,  150. 
HABIT  AND  MORAL  TRAIN- 
ING, 164. 

Habits  are  specific,  158,  159. 
Habituation,  principles  of,  153. 
Hall,  G.  S.,  56,  57,  96,  247. 
HEREDITY,  24. 
Heredity, 

force  of,  31. 

laws  of,  27. 

limitation  of,  29. 

meaning  of,  24. 

mechanism  of,  25. 
Heritage,  our,  167. 
Honor  and  fighting,  57. 
Home  life  and  the  street  gang, 

68. 

Ideals  of  action,  171. 
Ideals,  children's,  119. 
Ideational  types,  196. 
Iliad,  54. 
Imagination,  224. 
IMITATION,  108. 
Imitation,  and  adaptation,  111. 

in  animals,  109. 

basis  of  education,  112. 

definition  of,  108. 

development  of,  111. 

function  of,  111. 

and  habit,  138. 

and  infancy,  110. 

as  interpretation.  111,  115. 

and  language,  113,  114. 
Impression,  first,  190. 
Improvement,  none  in  low  pres- 
sure work,  250. 
Industrial  education,  20. 
Infancy,  9. 
Inhibition.  172. 
INSTINCTS,  35. 
Instincts, 

In  chickens,  37. 

classification  of,  44. 

defined,  35. 

individualistic,  48. 

in  man,  38. 

and  morals,  168. 

and  reflexes,  37. 

specialisation  of,  42. 


INDEX 


275 


Isolated  fatigue,  249. 

James,  Wm.,  51,  125, 135, 
Johnson,  G.  E.,  96. 

Latin,  why  studied,  161. 
Lawful    environment   means   a 

lawful  child,  169. 
Law,  meaning  of,  14. 
Learning  curve,  136. 
Learning  by  wholes,  193. 
Long  infancy,  30. 
Loss  of  body  parts,  92. 
Lower  animals  and  training,  9. 
Lower  animals,   migrations  of, 

74. 

Manipulation    of    environment, 

169. 

Manual  training,  20. 
Mastery  of  details,  148. 
Mathematical  habits,  160. 
Meaning,  232. 

and  education,  233. 
Measure  of  fatigue,  241. 
Medicine,  scientific,  1. 
Mechanism,  the  body  as,  18. 
MEMORY,  185. 
Memory,  and  age,  186. 

curve,  188. 

experiments  in,  186. 

and  intelligence,  199. 

material,  194 

meaning  of,  185. 

method  of,  in  fatigue,  242. 

and  practice,  189. 

and  sex,  186. 
Mental  evolution,  8,  15. 
Mental  heredity,  28. 
Method,  basis  of,  6,  8. 
Mendel's  law,  27. 
Migrations,  early,  76. 
Migrations  and  school,  81. 
MIGRATORY  INSTINCT,  74. 
Migrations  and  the  home,  82. 
Migrations  of  man,  76. 
Mind,  brain,  muscle,  18. 
Mollycoddles,  103. 
Motive,  149. 


Moral  training,  nothing  new  in. 
178. 

Moral  training  and  psychology, 
165. 

Mosso,  A.,  240. 

Miinsterberg,  H.,  214,  217. 

Muscular  activity,  end  of  edu- 
cation, 20. 

Muscles  and  nerves  trained,  18. 

Muscles  and  brain,  91. 

Museums,  school,  85. 

Natural  heredity,  30. 
Natural  selection,  32. 
Nature  of  children,  4. 
Nature  study,  17. 
Neatness,  habits  of,  158. 
Nervous  system  and  attention. 

211. 

Nest-building,  35. 
Neurology  and  attention,  206. 
Norms,  mental,  260-1. 
physical,  267-8. 

Offner,  M.,  239,  240,  246,  250. 
Origin  of  species,  15. 

Pace-setting,  245. 

Pangenesis,  26. 

Parks,  68. 

Parents,  associates  of  children, 
173. 

Parents  and  fear,  52. 

Parents  and  laws  of  habit-for- 
mation, 154. 

Passive  attention,  208. 

Pauses  in  school  work,  248. 

Periodicity  of  instincts,  39. 

Personal  hygiene,  175. 

Phases  of  attention,  208. 

Phases  of  fatigue,  245. 

Philosophy  student,  159. 

Physical  condition  and  memory, 
192. 

Physiological  methods  in  fa- 
tigue, 223. 

Plasticity,  133,  180. 

PLAY,  91. 


276      THE  OUTLINES  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 


Play,  of  adults,  104. 
and  drill,  102. 
and  fatigue,  248. 
and  morals,  101. 
pedagogy  of,  102. 
and  work,  103. 
Play   instinct,   development  of, 

98. 

Pleasurable  repetition,  140. 
Possibilities     of     parents     and 

teachers,  43. 
Practice,  149. 
Practice  effects,  226. 
Primitive  moral  training,  170. 
Professional  habits,  159. 
Procedure  in  habituation,  147. 
Promptness  at  school,  securing, 

155. 

Psychic  life  and  muscular  ac- 
tion, 92. 

Psychological    methods    in    fa- 
tigue, 242. 

Psychological  results  of  habitua- 
tion, 129. 

Reasoning,  226. 

training  in,  228. 

training  in,  specific,  231. 

and  education,  234. 
Recapitulation  and  heredity,  26. 
Records,  255,  262-6. 
Repetition,  136. 

in  attention,  140. 

in  memory,  190. 

in  moral  training,  172. 
Rest  by  change  of  work,  248. 
Rest  from  practice,  151. 
Retention,  190. 
Rils,  J.,  64. 
Rising  early,  157. 
Roosevelt,  54. 
Rowe,  S.  H.,  151,  154. 

Salmon,  migrations  of,  74. 
Savagery  in  children,  49. 
Schiller,  theory  of  play,  96. 
School  and  home,  173. 
School  management,  116. 
School  sessions,  length  of,  247. 
Schools     should     not     exhaust 
child,  251. 


Seals,  migrations  of,  74. 
Securing  practice,  156. 
Sensitivity  and  fatigue,  240. 
Sensory  clearness,  207. 
Skill  due  to  habit,  127. 
Small  differences,  31. 
Smoking,  breaking  habit  of,  157. 
Social  heredity,  30. 
Social  inheritance,  115. 
SOCIAL  INSTINCTS,  61. 
Social  instincts  and  the  school, 

67. 

Spalding's  studies,  37. 
Special  fatigue,  249. 
Speed  and  habit,  137. 
Spencer,  H.,  theory  of  play,  96. 
Spirit  of  club,  65. 
Spurts,  245. 

Static  view  of  world,  14. 
Sympathy,  70. 

Tadpoles,  migrations  of,  75. 
Teacher  and  the  instincts,  42. 
Teacher  and  fear,  53. 
TESTS  AND  NORMS,  254. 
Theater  in  the  school,  116. 
Theories  of  play,  94. 
THINKING,  221. 
Thinking,  defined,  226. 
Time   and   place   for   practice, 

151,  156. 

Titchener,  E.  B.,  195,  209. 
Training  in  attention,  213,  215. 
Tramps,  79. 
Truancies,  78. 
Truancies,  causes  of,  79. 
Typewriting,  139. 

Unit  characters,  27. 
Unit  characters  of  mind,  28. 
Usefulness  of  studies,  161. 
Utilizing  gang  instinct,  65. 

Variability  of  instincts,  36. 

Warming-up,  245. 
Welsmann,  26. 
Will  and  muscles,  93. 
Winter,  learn  to  swim  in,  126. 
Women,  education  of,  174. 


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